Is Truth Still Not A Defence?

“Below the powerful, the ordinary multitudes, in their turn, seized by the fever of jealous ownership, turned our people into a confused competition of warring gangs, each gang under its red-eyed champion seeking force or ruse to force its will against the others. In the end, it is this hot greed itself that destroyed the power of the men.

They had smashed up everything and in their festival of annihilation, they had forgotten to spare each other and themselves,”    Ayi Kwei Armah, 'Two Thousand Seasons.'

Ours seems to be a nation full of men and women who easily forget their immediate past. We do not seem to be guided by history and in the process, we learn nothing and we forget nothing.

All we do most of the time is embark on journeys that suit us no matter how dangerous it might be. In the end, we throw ourselves into a ditch before we realize that there was history to guide us if we had been a little cautious.

The government of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), in its confusion, is embarking on a dangerous policy which has the tendency to seriously divide this nation.

The NDC has tried, ever since it appeared on the political scene, to whip up ethnic emotions of the minority groups of this country against the majority, some of which have had dire consequences for the stability, security and cohesion of the nation.

Ghanaians have not forgotten the infamous statement by ex-President Jerry John Rawlings, when in the midst of the land conflict between the Konkombas, the Nanumbas and the Dagbons, he went up north and said “nobody brought land on to the earth”. This statement sparked a major ethnic war which claimed thousands of lives.

The NDC has always played the Gas against the Akans in Accra on the basis that Akans have taken over Ga lands; a situation which has created serious antipathy towards Akans, even though one on one, some Gas relate very well with Akans in commerce and other social and political lives, and vice versa.

Strangely enough, each time the NDC has its back against the wall, they play on the emotions of the Gas by revisiting the issue of Ga lands.

They did that and put it in their manifesto, creating the impression that some other Ghanaians have driven away our brothers and sisters, the Gas, and have forcefully taken away their lands.              

The question is: what percentage of Ga lands was taken by the state, which has gone into private hands, compared to those lands of the Gas which were given to the present occupiers by the Gas themselves?

The truth of the matter is that, the elders of the Ga land did not consider the interest of future generations of Gas when they were parceling out lands for monetary and other gains, which they appropriated to themselves without regard for the interest of generations unborn.

Today, admittedly, the Ga population has grown and it will continue to grow, so the new generation needs land. If the new generation has no land, it is not the fault of those occupying the lands, it is the fault of those elders who sold the lands without due consideration for the future.

This unfortunate situation is not limited to the Gas alone. Come to Ahantaland, lands acquired by the state years ago have been sold to multi-national companies for their business operations.

That aside, some chiefs and elders have also sold off family and stool lands to non- indigenes, to the detriment of the Ahantas. Go to Kwesimintsim and Apremdo for example; the original communities have been hemmed in by the nouveau rich who are not indigenes.

There is no way any son or daughter of the above communities can even have a piece of land to build a house of his or her own in his own town or village, whichever way you term it. The Ahantas have not made that noise, which also does not mean that they are happy with their plight.

Today, the NDC Ministers and party activists are insulting the Chief Justice of this country, a native of Ga, for acquiring a piece of land, whether from government or from a chief.

They say “she is a dangerous woman with no shame”. She has been called a thief, a liar, a fraud and all unprintable words to tarnish her image and get her to resign, so they can appoint a kangaroo Chief Justice who would come to do their politically motivated bidding without recourse to the law.

Those people pouring out invectives against Her Ladyship the Chief Justice have forgotten that once upon a time, a gentleman, Kwabena Mensah Bonsu, who pointed out a falsehood in a written judgment of the then Chief Justice I.K. Abban, was hauled before the Supreme Court and thrown into jail for exposing an obvious untruth in the then CJ's judgment. Justice Joyce Bamford-Addo, as she then was, sitting on the Supreme Court, in her ruling on the matter, had stated that “truth is no defence” in that matter. She is now the Speaker of Parliament.

With that judicial precedence, and the insults being thrown at Her Ladyship Mrs. Georgina Wood, can those who are engaged in the insults towards her be hauled before the Supreme Court as the NDC then did against Kwabena Mensah Bonsu?

The NDC is so petty and stupid, and in their incompetence in addressing the mess they have put this nation in, they want to divert attention from the major issues at stake.

Egya Atta is such a failure as the President of this country. It is a shame to those of us who respect the academia. And the champions of all these are Ewes and not Gas; Shame.

I did not 'cut' some today because yesterday was my birthday and I virtually swam in mahogany bitters. I am still recovering from the hangover, which has made me sober.

But those who are insulting the Chief Justice should note that they can be dragged to court. Richard Quashigah has become so acerbic in his insults towards Her Ladyship, such that he has lost the 'Ghanaianess' in him. Richard, you are being too rude, take time because time will catch up with you. Her Ladyship, don't mind these never do wells. Do your job and we are behind you.

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