Lawyer Slams NDC, JJ

Issah Alhassan

A Legal Practitioner, Lawyer Kwame Boafo based in Kumasi, has descended heavily on the government of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and former President Rawlings, accusing them of using martial and belligerent practices in an era of democratic rule.

According to him, the NDC had clearly demonstrated, by actions and deeds, that it was a party which thrives on violence and militarism, and that it does not believe in the actual rule of law and democracy.

He observed that the past seven months of the administration of the NDC has been characterised with actions and decisions which are akin to conditions which prevailed during the military junta, under ex-President Rawlings.

“It is hard to fathom that in this era of democracy, Rawlings and his cohorts still believe in the use of martial law in the governance of this country,” he emphasised. Lawyer Boafo, who is also the immediate past Secretary of the Ashanti Regional Chapter of the Ghana Bar Association (GBA), noted that as ambassadors of coup d’état and military rule, Mr. Rawlings and the NDC still possess undying traits of violence and militarisms, which are not only archaic, but also cast a serious slur on the democratic credentials of the country.

Sharing his thoughts on ‘Platform’, a political talk show programme aired on Angel 96.1FM, in reaction to recent comments made by ex-President Rawlings, to the effect that the government was being slow in prosecuting past officials of the NPP, Lawyer Boafo reminded former President Rawlings that his period of tyranny, dictatorship and autocratic rule was over, and that there was no way Ghanaians were going to sit and allow him manipulate the system.

He said such a call, from no other person than the former President was very unfortunate, and must be condemned in no uncertain terms, adding, “it is about time the former President and members of the NDC accepted that we are in the era of democracy, and that the rule of law and due process should be allowed to prevail.”

Lawyer Boafo described such comments by Mr. Rawlings as sarcastic and “communist inferior tactics,” adopted as a means of diverting the attention of the people from the real issues on the ground.

He said instead of casting innuendos and insinuations, the former President should rather save peoples’ ears and present names and evidence of personalities he claims have committed criminal acts and are liable for prosecution to the appropriate agencies for the necessary actions to be taken.

“If the former President claims he has evidence of people engaged in corrupt practices, he should present them, and desist from beating about the bush,” he charged.

Lawyer Boafo also chastised members of the NDC for putting a spin on the recent revelation made by the Attorney General and Minster of Justice, Mrs. Betty Mould-Iddrisu, that forty cases of irregularities had been found against the former administration, describing it as a case of putting the cart before the horse.

The Kumasi-based legal practitioner further spanked the government for ignoring pertinent issues such as the management of the economy, and the increasing prices of goods and commodities which have had negative effects on the people.

He said unlike its predecessor, the NDC government, right from the time it assumed office, had wasted the nation’s resources embarking on wild goose chases, citing the sanctioning of the Auditor-General to appear before the transitional team, and the setting up of the Ghana@50 Commission of Inquiry, detention of the former Chief of Staff by the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI), among other wasteful expeditions, which he said, failed to yield any positive results.

“Check the period former President Kufuor started prosecuting members of the previous government, and compare it with what the NDC is currently doing, and you would know the difference between a government that has the development of the nation at heart, and the one which is only there to satisfy its egoistic needs,” he pointed out.

Lawyer Boafo noted that the arbitrary arrest of former ministers, the seizure of vehicles and passports of personalities who worked under the previous government, were all actions that should not be tolerated in the era of the country’s democratic dispensation.

“The price of cement has skyrocketed; the cedi is increasingly sinking against the dollar, and what we have is a government which lacks vision and direction, and prefers to waste time on trivialities,” he noted.