The morning of June 18, 2008, was a normal one for the Tsikata family. Though Tsatsu Tsikata was battling his reputation and life at Accra High Court, there was no reason to be apprehensive as judgement in his mind was far from being delivered.
Morning family prayers were held with the message taken from the book of Genesis. After the prayers, Tsatsu Tsikata left home with a message of going to the court to receive the new date for the hearing of the case.
Unknown to Tsatsu and the entire Tsikata family, that was the day he was going to be imprisoned for causing financial loss to the state.
So, what was supposed to be information on the date of adjournment of the case became a full-blown trial that ended with him being sentenced to jail.
Thirteen years on, Tsatsu Tsikata recollects the final conversation he had with his wife before going to court.
“That morning before I went to court, I told my wife I’m just going for the date because the case had been postponed. We had this wonderful reason from Genesis. We had a wonderful Bible reading before I left home that morning. I told her I was going for the date,” he said.
Tsatsu says his wife got information that he was being imprisoned through his sister.
"Within a couple of hours, my sister who had heard what was going on had to call her that your husband is heading not for home but to Nsawam,” he said.
Tsatsu now remembers with amusement how a day that was supposed to be normal turned to be the day he was convicted of causing financial loss to the state.
"I ended up on a day in court that the judge had not indicated that she was going to pronounce judgement. The trial wasn’t done and there was a matter before the Supreme Court which had to be resolved the following Wednesday. I got to court, the judge hadn’t sat for one and half year and the judge suddenly says, the day of judgement is here. She ends up sending me to prison. I laughed at it because it was quite funny. I drove myself to court."
