If you can't do the time, don't do the crime

There is the law of action and reaction. Every action you take, do expect to have a reaction. That is a natural phenomenon.

Some people, when power is bestowed upon them, they do misapply it. They use the power to intimidate, suppress or exploit others in the society. This is especially so with our modern day Ghana politicians and traditional chiefs.

As there is reaction to every action, when such people in positions of power abuse their authority, the consequential reaction by the poor but fearless in society, will be to drag them on the floor to the cleaners. That is certain!

When an abusive chief or politician is taken on for committing a reprehensible act, they go round seeking others to intervene on their behalf. They ask those they consult to contact whoever is taking them on to stop. Some of them may arrange their sycophantic supporters to also find ways to attack those reacting to them.

On a number of occasions had I been contacted by some people known to me, acting on request by those I take on for being criminally abusive or irresponsible, to cease fire or tone down my equally-measured response to them.

Why should they conduct themselves abusively in the first place if they feared the attendant response?

Is it not said, “If you can't do the time, don't do the crime”? If they cannot stand, or fear, the response to their actions by whomever, they should not act in manners that are considered abusive, dehumanizing or derogatory to the integrity of others, in the first place.

For example, if you desire to always reap from where you’ve not sown, expect to be told off.

If you are a chief and loves selling the same piece of land to more than one person simultaneously, expect to be insulted, if not arraigned for your corrupt behaviour. If you are a chief and desire to exercise untraditional powers where you are not supposed to, thinking you are an overlord that wields unlimited powers, expect to be squarely put in your place.

If you are a politician and does not respect the constituents or the Ghanaian public, corrupt and insatiably greedy, feeding with both hands in the quest to amass illegal wealth in a short possible space of time, expect to be taken to the cleaners.

Those in positions of authority infatuated with looking down on others, abusing them and robbing them in broad daylight must bear in mind that “A predator is often blind to its own peril”. If you make it a habit of chasing a coward all of the time, you risk encountering their boldness one day.

Treat people with respect no matter their age, sex, and social status. Don’t seek to take what rightfully belongs to others from them by your sheer power or position in the society.

Once again, I say, “If you can't do the time, don't do the crime”, thus, “One should not carry out an action if they are unwilling to handle the consequences”

Is it not better for you not to misconduct yourself in the first place than to commit your criminal actions and when taken on, you chase and plead with some publishers not to facilitate the public revelations of your actions by whoever is taking you on? You can threaten or persuade the publishers not to publish the responses to your actions but ways can still be found to make public disclosures of your actions.

Are there not many ways to kill the cat, as infamously said by the late NDC Chairman Dr Kwabena Agyei?

Let us live in peace with one another. Stop your desires to cheat others and no one will take you on.

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Rockson Adofo

Saturday, 14 May 2022