Ghana’s Parliamentarians have cramps in their heads…

And the NDC’s Alban Bagbin has confirmed it all. And he wants to become the flagbearer of the NDC at Election 2020? Damn him!!

Folks, when I read this news report (See https://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/Karbo-s-Invitation-Speaker-blasts-CID-for-breaching-procedure-654841), I got really angry for many reasons, the most important of which was that Alban Bagbin (the Deputy Speaker of Parliament) and those MP’s thinking and posturing publicly like him in matters concerning the fate of MP’s regarding law enforcement have become problems for our democracy. Instead of solving problems for which they have been put in office, they have turned out to be the problems that the Ghanaian tax-payer must solve. How disgusting!!

It is so because of how Bagbin presented issues: “though Members of Parliament (MPs) are not above the laws of Ghana, there were procedures to be followed where an MP's assistance is needed in criminal investigations.” What is that needed “assistance” when the MP himself/herself is the subject of investigation in suspected criminal activities?

Is Bagbin “correct” upstairs? And he wants to lead the NDC at Election 2020? Not my kind of attraction. Is he able to explain to us how the numerous instances of suspicious activities involving him have been swept under the rug to create credibility problems for him, anyway? He is part of the problems to be solved by the Ghanaian tax-payers and moulders of public conscience.

And in solving the problem, law enforcement (acting in good conscience for public good) has to stamp its authority on the situation, as has happened in the case of Anthony Karbo, if even it is true that the CID, indeed, went for him. We have read the news report in which the CID denied ever inviting him for interrogation in connection with the Kwasi Nyantakyi case. Yet, Bagbin is fuming that the CID went beyond bounds, going after him without seeking approval from him or Parliament beforehand. What is what now?

In any case, we are not bothered about what happens to Karbo in this case. Our concern is about the impunity with which Bagbin postured and its implications for our democracy.

Of course, this is not the first time that utterances of the sort have been made in respect of MP’s falling foul of the law or doing acts for which they are to be grilled and drilled by established law enforcement mechanisms. In the past, we had instances where MP’s dragged to the quarters of law enforcement sought refuge in what Bagbin is babbling about. And they escaped punishment unscathed. Only in Ghana. Not in the United States, for instance, where the NPP’s Eric Amoateng was nabbed and dealt with according to law. Did the US have to seek permission from Ghana’s Parliament to deal with him the way it did? No!! Yet, upon his release, those commiserating with him as if he hadn’t done anything illegal included NPP MP’s. Shameful.

What is happening in Karbo’s case was first raised by the NDC’s Ras Mubarak, who set the stage for Bagbin’s drivel. I dislike this kind of narrow-mindedness and pointed stupidity at the expense of our democracy. Ras Mubarak has gradually emerged as a pesky bug, especially after what the Israelis did to him in his attempt to “internationalize” himself on the basis of a cause that he barely knows/understands. He picked himself up politically by damning former president Mills in any way fit to him only to eat back his vomit. Woebetide such infantile muckrakers in Ghanaian politics who don’t stop to look and listen before leaping into the political cauldron!!

We base our stance on the fact that in a viable democracy, the law shouldn’t be any respecter of persons in any situation for as long as it remains the law. All citizens should be subjected to it, especially where crime is involved. And the institutions tasked with enforcing the law must be allowed to do so, regardless of whose ox they gore. And they have many oxen to gore in our Ghanaian situation. If we allow the Bagbins to determine how things should be done by law enforcement, we will be endorsing acts that endanger our democracy.

Let’s be blunt here to say that an MP is nothing but a representative of the constituents that voted for him/her to be in Parliament for their good in terms of enacting laws and exercising constitutionally mandated powers to ensure that they play their role in Parliament for its effective enforcement of the checks and balances needed to nurture our democracy. Nothing in our Constitution insulates the MP’s or makes them the untouchables that they think they are just by virtue of the safety nets that they have put in place for themselves as Bagbin’s senseless vituperation implies.

Let me be clear here that whatever provision there is to make Bagbin spit fire is misplaced, misconceived, and misguided. In truth, it is unproductive and poses a serious danger to our democracy. I have heard people say that once there is a provision in the legal documents regarding the status of MP’s to support Bagbin’s stance, the police CID must adhere to it. Nonsense of the highest order. Who put that provision there? Parliament itself? With whose support?

Why should there be a discriminatory provision of that sort for only the MP’s and not members of the other arms of government? Can we say that this provision is a major flaw presupposing that our MP’s would definitely indulge in acts of impropriety and must, therefore have such a provision to shield them in advance? What sort of nonsense isn't that?

What wouldn’t have happened if the concession had been given to members of the Judiciary and the Executive arms of government too? So, any of them can do anything but can’t be arrested or investigated without any notice to or approval from the Chief Justice or the President, respectively? What for, anyway? Who is being protected? And why? Is that what the ordinary citizens have?

A very hungry and poor Ghanaian who can't make ends meet in any way looks round and steals a finger or bunch of plantains only to be jailed 10 years by a weird legal system while those with political connections who manipulate the system to steal millions of Cedis are protected under the scheme set up by themselves as is to be boiled down in this Bagbin nonsense? Devastating!!

If the Speaker of Parliament says “No; I don’t want you to take on this MP”, what will happen? Or if the Chief Justice and the President also kick against any move by law enforcement against any member of the Judicial or Executive arm falling foul of the law and must answer for it? Is that how a functional democracy should be approached?

Folks, I have said much and still have much to say but will end it here to say that what has been happening all these years as far as our attempt at practising constitutional democracy is a farce—a painful mockery—that hurts. It is disturbing that the poor tax-payers who can’t make ends meet but are forced to contribute their quota to beef up the national coffers are made to look on while the idle hands who manage to enter political office eat everything in sight and turn round to spit on them in disgust.

The worsening of living conditions speaks volumes, which they express in diverse ways. The anger simmering in them is unfathomable but its outcome is predictable. I hope that it doesn’t boil over. If it does, woe betides Ghana!!

By Dr. Michael J.K. Bokor
E-mail: [email protected]