I have been disturbed for some time by the behavior of the members of Ghana’s largest Opposition Party, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) on very sensitive issues of national importance since they found themselves on the Opposition side of the political spectrum in Ghana six years ago. It must be borne in mind by readers that this party and its grandfather, the PNDC, had ruled Ghana without interruption for nineteen years. During this period, they were the masters of all that they surveyed. They tolerated little or no dissension to their actions and views. At the very best, they ignored their political opponents. At worse, they meted the unimaginable form of justice to them. The concept of the rule of law and due process did not feature much in their thinking, their vocabulary or their way of political life.
Enter the elections of 2000. And presto! These “masters of the Ghanaian political universe” are dumped from the corridors of power to have a little taste of what it feels like to be in Opposition. All of a sudden, they see everything wrong with the actions of the new government. The members of Parliament of the NDC cry out loud always about their belief and commitment to the Separation of Powers enshrined in our constitution, the one they themselves wrote, and our political system, adopted by themselves. They always profess their “strong” commitment to, and belief in, the rule of law and due process. But their behavior over the past six years in Parliament has been exactly the opposite of the things that they claim to believe in. These men and women in the NDC have this strange belief system that stipulates that the rule of law and due process is only good only when things go your way and when you are winning. Due process means when you always get what you want out of the political system.
Members of Parliament were elected to enact laws for the nation. There is another arm of the government called the Judiciary which manages the courts, the judicial system, and actually interpret and implement the laws that Parliamentarians make. These arms of government including the Executive are all supposed to be independent but work in collaboration with each other. Each organ of government is expected to show respect for the work and independence of the others. Unfortunately, the NDC members of Parliament have this strange belief that their work in Parliament and (when it suits them), Parliament as one body is more important than all the other arms and organs of government. They always behave as if the work of Parliamentarians is more important than everyone else’s in the country.
Despite their feigned belief in the Parliament, they only support the work of Parliament when things go their way. Parliament is the place where debates, civilized and uncivilized debates are conducted. When members do not agree on issues and laws being debated, the system requires that they put the issue to vote and the views of the majority should prevail. Anytime the debates and votes in Parliament do not go their way, members of the NDC will walk out of Parliament and stay out for at least thirteen days, come back, collect their salaries and enjoy all the perks that they did not work for. They always return to Parliament after twelve or thirteen days because they know that the Standing Orders of Parliament mandate the Speaker to declare any seat vacant after fifteen days of the member vacating it. So for fear of losing their seats and their perks, they will always return after twelve or thirteen days.
Their next behavior that is of serious concern is in regard to the work of the Judiciary. The history of the (P)NDC with regards to the Judiciary in Ghana is too painful to recall. This is a party that brought fear into the minds of members of the Judiciary with their intimidation and threats to their lives. The NDC has not changed its stance at all towards the Judiciary even in Opposition. Anytime the Judiciary issues a judgment or decision that is not favorable to them, the NDC will heap insults and threats to the Judiciary. Their Godfather and former President Jerry Rawlings is on record as having threatened the Judiciary on so many occasions over the past six years when he was not happy with certain decisions and judgments of the Courts of law. Strangely enough, anytime a court decision goes their way, the NDC will hail that decision as a victory for the rule of law.
When one of their top functionaries, Sherry Ayittey, a close friend of the former First Lady was acquitted by the fast Track Court on charges of causing financial loss to the state, the whole NDC machinery including the former President and his wife were in court to hail the decision praising it a “victory for the rule of law and due process”.
When other former members of the previous NDC government were found guilty by the same courts, the Party cried foul describing the process aa political witch-hunting by the ruling government.
In early February, one of the ir former Ministers, now a Member of Parliament for Keta, Dan Abodakpi was found guilty of stealing state money and sentenced to ten years imprisonment. The NDC immediately cried foul suggesting that that was a sad day for the same “rule of law” that they hailed when Sherry Ayittey was acquitted. They again boycotted Parliament for their usual thirteen days and in the process heaped a lot of insults on the Judiciary accusing it of political lynching. I believe all of them are expecting to be fully paid after their return to Parliament.
Why do these guys expect that the citizens of Ghana should obey the laws that they pass when they have no respect for the other organ of government that is expected to enforce the laws? This strange behavior of selective justice, seeing justice only when it goes your way and injustice when it doesn’t has to stop. As lawmakers, the NDC Parliamentarians should always consider the enormous implication that their actions and behaviors have, not only on the Judiciary, but on the country’s political system as a whole. Their actions of always insulting and threatening the Judiciary undermines the whole process of adjudication of justice in Ghana. I have never heard any MP protest when some ordinary people are jailed for five years for stealing a basket of cassava or a fowl, but are up in arms when one of their own is sent to jail for stealing millions of state funds. Is that not selective view of justice?
If the members of Parliament want to be addressed as “honorable”, if they want the laws they enact in Parliament to be respected and adhered to by the citizens, then they should first learn to respect the laws themselves. That is the only way civilized societies adhering to the rule of law and due process function.
Winnipeg, Canada
Views expressed by the author(s) do not necessarily reflect those of GhanaHomePage.