A Vintage Foretaste of an Atta-Mills Tenure

It has often been alleged that the violent culture of the opposition Provisional National Democratic Congress (P/NDC) is largely due to the fact of its founder and patriarch having acquired power through the brutal application of violence. And it cannot be gainsaid that the preceding allegation is laden with validity and evidential proof. Even so, it is also equally valid to observe the mundane and trite fact of birds of identical feathers consorting – or flocking – together. And regarding the latter, of course, the reference is to the putatively curious relationship between ex-President Jeremiah John Rawlings and his second-bananas, Professor John Evans Atta-Mills.

The former University of Ghana Law-School lecturer prefers to publicly style himself as “Professor Humility” but, of course, those of us who have studiously observed his lock-step relationship with Mr. Rawlings know pretty well that Professor Atta-Mills' is a veritably put-on, or make-believe, humility.

Thus it hardly came as a surprise when the NDC's handpicked presidential candidate's bodyguard was recently reported to have savagely assaulted a quite popular NDC supporter because the latter had dared to exercise his democratic right to freedom of expression (Ghanaweb.com 7/5/07). The victim, a Mr. Albert Kojo Yeboah, also known as “Carlos.” Is reported to have called in to a pro-NDC radio program to seek clarification on a shady party deal that may well be considered to be criminal in a legitimately constituted court of law.

The issue regarded the blatant bribing of an evidently viable NDC parliamentary candidate apparently deemed to be a serious threat to another candidate anointed by the party's top-hierarchy. In sum, the perceived political threat, Alhaji Walid Laryea, had been promised the whopping sum of $ 9,000.00 (Nine-Thousand American Dollars) if he would consent to aborting his parliamentary candidacy in order to make way for a Mr. Nii Tackie Commey, the party's anointed.

The report goes on to say that having promptly complied, by stepping down, Mr. Laryea was ultimately offered the promised payola but quite short of the originally promised amount by $ 2,000.00 (Two-Thousand American Dollars). Consequently, when he called in to Radio Gold – the pro-P/NDC propaganda broadcaster – the victim, Mr. Yeboah, wanted to know exactly why the party top-dogs had partially reneged on their kick-back promise.

Shortly after the radio call-in program ended, according to reports, Professor Mills' bodyguard, who is popularly known variously as “Machoman” and “Arnold,” after California's Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, called at Mr. Yeboah's place of work and physically assaulted the victim, who promptly lodged a complaint with the Accra Central Police Station.

What makes this case even more serious is that, according to news reports, so savage was the assault of Professor Mills' bodyguard on his primary victim that Mr. Yeboah's colleagues were forced to immediately flee their place of work. Thus not only was “Machoman” a direct menace to his victim's life, the ex-veep's bodyguard was also a veritable threat to the lives of the victim's co-workers, and it remains to be reckoned exactly how much, in terms of lost work time, the victim's employer suffered. Also to be reckoned is the extent of emotional stress suffered by the victim's colleagues, as well as the cost of the physical injuries sustained by Mr. Yeboah, Machoman's primary target of assault.

Predictably, at the time of this writing, another report had been posted to Ghanaweb.com in which Professor Mills' camp was alleged to be pleading with the badly contused Mr. Yeboah, 36 years old, not to press charges against Machoman. Needless to say, in a legally functioning democracy, such as Fourth Republican Ghana, such judgment call goes well and far beyond the primary victim of assault once, as it clearly appears to be the case, the Accra Central Police Station's personnel have clinically – or forensically – established that, indeed, a crime has been committed. For at this level, or stage, the case becomes one involving the People of the Republic of Ghana versus “Machoman” (whatever his given name at birth is) for savagely violating the civil and human rights of his victim; in essence, it is the entire State of Ghana, itself, that “Mr. Machoman” has violated. Consequently, whether the victim decides to press criminal charges against his assailant or not, the State of Ghana, represented by state, or public, prosecutors, can and should, in this particularly context, especially, go ahead and prosecute “Mr. Machoman” to the fullest extent of the law. Needless to say, the days of P/NDC criminal impunity are over!

In the aforementioned curious relationship between Professor Mills and his former boss – actually many Ghanaians, both inside Professor Mills's own party and without, firmly believe, and with good reason, that Flt.- Lt. Jeremiah John Rawlings is still in charge of the affairs of the P/NDC, including Professor Mills' campaign bid for the presidency – it is “Professor Humility” who shamelessly plays the proverbial “Good Cop” to Mr. Rawlings' “Bad Cop,” in American law-enforcement parlance.

And so the flagrant fact that Professor Mills' bodyguard would savagely assault one of the party's faithfuls, for daring to call the P/NDC to account, albeit a rather bizarre account, is very much in synch with the NDC's notoriety as a party of arm-twisting scofflaws. Thus if, indeed, he valued his own life, particularly his inalienable human and civil rights, even as Machoman, diligently playing Professor Mills' proxy, has more than amply demonstrated that, in fact, Mr. Yeboah's life is not worth a whit, the victim would seriously reconsider his association with and membership in the so-called National Democratic Congress. And, indeed, could any Ghanaian of sound health and mind imagine what might actually have happened to Mr. Albert Kojo Yeboah if his brutal trouncing by Machoman had occurred under the highly unlikely presidential watch and tenure of “Professor Humility”? And on this score, of course, yours truly is also thinking about our martyred Supreme Court judges.

*Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., Ph.D., teaches English and Journalism at Nassau Community College of the State University of New York, Garden City. He is the author of “Dr. J. B. Danquah: Architect of Modern Ghana” (iUniverse.com, 2005). E-mail: [email protected].