NDC brands well in the eye of Ghanaians

If there was an investigation, if wrongdoing was established, if due process was followed, and if the Constitution vested in the President the authority to remove her, then so be it. That is precisely what the Constitution exists for. But let us be clear: none of the counterclaims stand. The Chief Justice was not denied due process, because she was afforded it. The President did not act ultra vires, he acted squarely within constitutional bounds. An investigation was in fact conducted, and wrongdoing was clearly identified with incontrovertible evidence. On that basis, I have absolutely no objection to her removal.

This article, however, is nothing short of intellectually bankrupt. It is nonsense. It is dishonest. It is an affront to reason to draw a parallel between a constitutional process, properly executed, and the senseless killings of the judges under Flight Lieutenant Rawlings’ PNDC era. Those atrocities, those abominable murders, were committed by criminals, not by the Ghanaian people, not by the NDC as a political party, and certainly not by today’s generation. Rawlings himself denied personal involvement. The perpetrators, including Amartey Kwei and his conspirators, were eventually brought to justice. The entire nation, in one collective voice, recoiled in horror. Nobody in their right mind supported those killings, nobody except the criminals themselves.

For any journalist, especially one scribbling from the comfort of London, to now attempt to conflate that dark episode with the present constitutional order is not only foolish, it is malicious. To recklessly smear an entire political party, an entire generation, nearly half the population of Ghana, seventeen to eighteen million innocent citizens, by associating them with the barbarism of a bygone era is an act of unforgivable intellectual dishonesty. Let us state it without equivocation: the heirs of the PNDC are not the NDC of today. We categorically reject and repudiate those killings. Nobody should dare to insinuate otherwise.

If this so-called journalist had the intellectual courage to argue that the President lacked constitutional authority to act, we would welcome the debate. Because we, more than anyone, insist that the Constitution must never be subverted. But in this case, the facts are indisputable. The President possessed the constitutional power. The accused was investigated. A properly constituted panel, comprising members of diverse leanings, including those sympathetic to the NPP, reviewed the evidence and issued findings. Due process was observed. The President, elected with the mandate of the Ghanaian people, acted upon those findings. Everything was done within the law. Nothing resembled lawlessness. Nothing mirrored the brutality of the past.

To suggest otherwise is not journalism, it is propaganda dressed up as commentary. It is an insult not just to the NDC, but to the intelligence of the Ghanaian people. The NPP, whose record is littered with corruption, state capture, sweetheart deals, judicial manipulations, and the brazen plundering of the public purse, now pretends to cloak itself in moral outrage. It is hypocrisy of the highest order. They looted the nation, impoverished the people, and when confronted with their failures, they now attempt to distract the public with this pitiful, senseless cry.

So let it be known: we will not sit idle while over eighteen million innocent Ghanaians are defamed and equated with the barbarism of criminals, we will confront such falsehoods with the full force of truth, we will dismantle such lies with reason and evidence, and we will not allow any malicious pen to stain the honor of our party or our people.

So let it be known: we will not sit idle while over eighteen million innocent Ghanaians are defamed and equated with the barbarism of criminals, for we will confront such falsehoods with uncompromising clarity and expose them for what they are, the desperate lies of cowards who cannot face the truth.

By Dr. Michael Buadoo