The Hidden 'Graveyard' At the Police CID Unit of Ghana Where Only the Ballot Box Exhumes 'Buried' Docket-de-Akunta.

If there was any befitting dirge to be sang for the burial of 'Akonta' mining docket and the lives of those who died from the hazards of illegal mining (galamsey), especially from 'Akonta' mine's activities, that dirge ought to be titled 'Rhythm of Justice'.

And maybe, just maybe, those living with terminal diseases and slowly dying because of the excesses of illegal mining may find comfort in that Rhythm of Justice too.The melody of Justice that may be comfort to sufferers of ramification of galamsey for which we are all potential sufferers, will equally be killed and buried just like the the docket if we all refuse to sing the dirge preventing the right thing to be done.

How did all these elude the trumpeters who had the drones and GPS to track flying Guinea fowls in the air and the airwaves? Are they probably dead and buried too like the dockets and never to be exhumed by the tools constructed by the ballot box?

One expected the Guinea fowl trackers to use their expertise to unearth the documents and files without wings on land before they were buried. At least the 'digital' GPS that were outdoored and marketed by a miraculous spokesperson could have helped if the drones were not indeed preserved for medical emergencies to distribute blood across the country only.

I cannot agree with Professor Stephen Kwaku Asare's October 4, 2025 Facebook post, more. The US-based Ghanaian law luminary posted that "The Attorney-General's revelations that the docket has resurfaced is no routine administrative error; it is a scandal that strikes at the heart of justice" He went further to state that "Dockets do not hide themselves; someone deliberately buried it. Until those behind the act are identified, the fight against galamsey and other High-level crimes remain a performance, not a policy".

Must I believe the exit of the former Chief Justice, Getrude Araba Torkornoo, and the recent swearing in of 21 Court of Appeal Justices of Ghana has become the vaccine the CID and the investigators needed to exhume the buried 'docket-de-Akunta? I just hope the group mandated to bury the docket are not regretting choosing burial over 'cremation of the docket'.

At least the dockets had mercy from the power of the people through elections and were lucky to be exhumed from a political 'graveyard' allegedly guarded by the police Criminal Investigation Division (CID). The men and women of that division we are learning were once infected by fear of the Executive power that choked their throats and nostrils and weakened their muscular strength making it impossible for them to at least point to voice out or point to where these dockets were buried. Clearly the police have now received vaccination against their harbored fears, courtesy the people's power through the ballot box.

The culture of suspects invited by the security forces or institutions constitutionally mandated to investigate crimes, attracting organized supporters of suspects to besiege premises of those institutions aggressively and violently in many instances in the name of solidarity that is creeping into our body politics is concerning.

Yes, we know 'rotten fruits attract the most flies', but must we be reduced to that level without tickling our senses and morals a little bit for the betterment of a nation through accountability? What becomes of us when those we seemingly break laws to protect are ultimately found guilty by the law courts?

Equally, we do not expect the security services and institutions to be used to harass the citizenry when their actions are within the confines of the law. Peaceful protests must be respected and protected as it is one of the foundations of positive change in any honest democracy.

Suspects must be given full access to their legal representation, and bail conditions must not be used as a punishment or a means to keep suspects in custody more than the law requires. We must be reminded that precedence is a powerful tool the future enjoys, for it makes its work very easy.

Suspects must also desist from painting a bad image for institutions doing their constitutionally mandated duties, especially when the actions being taken by those institutions are not in their favor, or when a step is being taken that has never been done, for the absence of precedence does not mean one cannot be guilty.

The hasty unnecessary press conferences by supporters and foes of suspects, especially Parliamentarians when investigations are ongoing, geared towards prejudging cases and pronouncing suspects innocent or guilty before they are tried must stop for it is not healthy for a growing democracy.

Media discussions with spinning undertones to influence or court public sympathy to discredit investigators and witnesses must also stop for it builds unnecessary tension and has the tendency to jeopardize national security and national peace.

We must trust our institutions to work for the benefit of all and not a few. Those who bend the law must be straightened by the law, no matter their stature in the society.

I rest my PEN.
Mustapha Alhassan
Pennsylvania, USA.