Tightly-knit thatch roofed their mud huts, tightly-knit also was their hearts. They had lived so non-violently that even their trees’ leaves fell gently. Hunters stalked their game with guns and arrows, food boiled as firewood burned. It was simply a peaceful, happy community. Yet, one day, someone farmed too far. That land was not for his father. The chief did all in vain to assuage the grieved ones’ pain.
They sought peace from the government’s court. But what transpired? With the ‘smart’ lawyer whom he hired, the thief swore in God’s name but lied. This was before the Judge who would decide; finally, as paid to do, he read judgment from his book, which crowned the crook.
This birthed the death of the folks' peace. Machetes clashed with no restraint, fire razed homes, revenge did same. The men were killed, and out of dread, the women traced bush paths and fled. Because of just one unjust Judge, their history is now just a dirge –That once peaceful village of old! When justice is sold!
The Story Of Justice Ernest Judge Obimpeh
All through our investigations, we dealt with specialized courts which particular cases were referred to for adjudication. The land court was one such. Tiger visited the place in the course of his investigation and managed to zero in on a series of interesting cases.
The level of interest as Tiger went on with his work in such courts heightened because most of the interested parties were either there because they had been sued over land or they had sued others over land.
More often than not, these were lands situated in prime areas of the capital. The notice board helped Tiger to identify one of such cases. It was a civil case titled; Alpha Musah vs. S. & others.
A man (Alpha Musah) had sued three others on the authority of his family over a parcel of land at Shiashie (a prime location in Ghana's capital, Accra)
The trial Judge was Justice Ernest Obimpeh of the Land Court.
He was feared as much as he was respected in the courts, he was a pillar when it came to land cases. As far as we knew, he had footprints in most landmark cases in land matters. Our interest was to test how 'true' his credentials were as had been documented over the years.
We had known it would be an uphill task right from the word ‘go’. How much could an investigator offer a trial Judge whose work entailed dealing with hundreds of thousands of Ghana cedis?
The initial hitch came when his main clerk proved incapable of leading us to him.
Even though she believed her boss (Justice Judge Obimpeh) would take money to do us favors, she was unable to go round the nuanced complexities and so we resorted to an old friend-King Gabriel of Ajet Nassam fame.
In the long round, from the premises of the courts through to meetings at different places in the capital, we finally landed in the home of the Judge, where monies were paid to him. The honorable man that he was, we trusted him to keep his word and rule in favor of the man we represented.
One-On-Two Chat: Tiger Meets With Gabriel And Judge Obimpeh's Clerk
Gabriel: Charley, the two names nu ebi Alpha?
Tiger: Alpha Musa.
Gabriel: Ahh he is the one you are working for?
Tiger: Yeah.
Gabriel’s Colleague: Yeah. How are you?
Tiger: Good morning, err good evening madam.
Gabriel’s Colleague: The case is coming on tomorrow.
Gabriel: Err the case is coming on tomorrow. This is the woman who manages the big guy, the big boss over there. She manages…. And err like we discussed, there is nothing that I can do without letting her know because she is always with the man.
Tiger: Okay.
Gabriel: Then if anything at all, she knows the man’s mood very well so that if the man is not in a good mood, she knows when she will get to the man. With err… So I said let me call her so that… err you will know what will happen and then…
Tiger: I know I told you. As for him de3, he is my main worker.
Gabriel: How much do you think is good to present to the big boy? (Referring to the Judge Judge Obimpeh).
Gabriel’s Colleague: Tomorrow I don’t know whether the plaintiff, they will close their case because they are supposed to call someone who is not here. It’s likely they will close for them to open their…
Tiger: Mmm.
Gabriel’s Colleague: So then I will get in touch with him then he will also…
Gabriel: Okay.
Gabriel’s Colleague: And the two of us will…
Gabriel: Then we will see what is happening then maybe.. If the mood is good, she will get to know what the old boy will like.
Tiger: Okay.
Gabriel: Then she will communicate and then I will communicate it to you.
Tiger: Okay.
Gabriel: Alright.
Gabriel’s Colleague: So that will be..
Gabriel: Alright mummy.
Gabriel’s Colleague: God willingly tomorrow.
Tiger: Thank you.
Docket Smuggled Out Of Court, Complexities Galore And How We Sidelined Judge Obimpeh's Clerk
So all was set as Tiger waited patiently to see when the clerk would come with information on what the Judge wanted and more importantly, where he wanted the money to be delivered to him.
Tiger's second meeting was crucial in the Judge Obimpeh jigsaw. We discovered how a clerk could smuggle files out of court and give them to fellow clerks. We saw also in Judge Obimpeh's clerk, a bureaucratic person and that was going to delay our work.
We were without much knowledge of the case and her repeated questions and requests for better and further particulars of the case did not help matters as well. Read our last conversation with her.
Madam: Yes sir.
Tiger: Yeah. Good evening madam.
Madam: Good evening.
Tiger: I don’t know if you remember me.
Madam: Sorry…
Tiger: If you remember me…
Madam: We met outside with Gabriel.
Tiger: Yeah, yeah. We met… I was calling him. I came, I was calling him.
Madam: But he was calling you when he was sitting here. He called you.
Tiger: Mmmhmmm yeah so I thought…
Madam: I gave him the file. I wanted him to go through it because I’ve not seen any document you have filed.
Tiger: So..
Madam: Oh please sit down… err my brother.
Tiger: Okay.
Madam: Sorry eer. There are documents that he is supposed to file apart from the defense that he filed, he has not filed anything. But I was asking Gabriel, Gabriel was also saying that he says he has given it to the lawyer.
Tiger: Mmm.
Madam: So I don’t know whether he wants to wait aaa when he comes to the box before he will show it to me. I don’t know which document that he has given to the Lawyer.
Tiger: He was showing me plenty documents..
Madam: That he has given it to the lawyer?
Tiger: To the court.
Madam: To the court?
Tiger: Yeah.
Madam: Hmm. I brought the whole file today, we all worked on it today. The only thing we saw he has filed was defense. Nothing else. Because we wanted to be sure to know what they have filed and compare it to the others to see if….
Tiger: Mmm.
Madam: I don’t want a situation where you give something then later on you will say that it didn’t succeed. I don’t like that so I wanted to be sure.
Tiger: Mmm.
Madam: So which documents has he given to you?
Tiger: In fact I don’t …even…, I couldn’t take my time to go through all of them. In the morning, I think Gabriel told me if he has some documents with him, I should come.. So I asked him and he said he has given all the documents to the court. So he was saying that…
Madam: To the court?
Tiger: Yeah. I think is his Lawyer. He wanted to say that his Lawyer.
Madam: But does he has copies?
Tiger: Yeah he has…
Madam: The document that he gave to the Lawyer does he have copies?
Tiger: Mmm I think he has, some of them he has copies.
Madam: Then he should make copies for as.
Tiger: Okay.
Madam: If he has then he should make copies for us.
Tiger: Okay.
Madam: So that we will know how…
Tiger: Okay.
Madam: So if you can bring it…
Tiger: Okay. I will talk to him. But for the mean time, I think we can..or we should wait until he makes the copies.
Madam: Me, I wanted to have a look at it.
Tiger: Mmm.
Madam: Have you seen Gabriel?
Tiger: No I haven’t, I called him ahh. When I got here, I called him ahhh. I don’t even know his house.
Madam: Is not going.
Tiger: No it’s not going, no is going but he doesn’t pick.
Madam: Errr.
Tiger: I’m suspecting maybe he is driving.
Madam: Let me call him. Because he said that its likely he will come here.
Tiger: Mmm.
Madam: His court is up. The line is not going but I’ve… Where is he that he is not picking the call? There is a lady with,… in that court let me call her to find out.
Tiger: Okay. Madam please take this for credit. (She receives an amount of money from Tiger).
Madam: Okay, thank you. Ah..paa he is not like that oo I don’t know. Can you errr. We are about to close so if he is there, maybe he is coming down. (She makes a phone call to check if Gabriel is in his court)
Tiger: He is gone?
Madam: The lady herself is not there. But can you check because we will close at four.
Tiger: Okay.
In Judge Obimpeh's Saloon Car Bribe Chambers And How Trial Judge Obimpeh Grabbed Ghc 5,000
At the turn of events, Tiger had to resort to a better connection to liaise between the trial Judge. Who best to do that than King Gabriel, who turned to be the great and trusted linguist of most top Judges.
Gabriel stepped in with style and before long, had scheduled a meeting with the top man. The first meeting was in the Judge’s car somewhere around the Accra Mall. Tiger barely had the opportunity to explain himself because the Judge was either not interested in long talk except his GHc 5000 or that he was too busy for any long talk.
Tiger: Hello yeah, I can see you; turn your back. I can see yeah, your right hand side.(Tiger speaks to King Gabriel on phone).
Gabriel: Come inside.
Tiger: I should come in?
Gabriel: I have discussed with him already so you, just because of time, just remove his money for him and then I would meet you in the office.
Judge Obimpeh: Is it in an envelope?
Tiger: Erhe.
Judge Obimpeh: Are you put,..is it in an envelope?
Tiger: No sir.
Judge Obimpeh: How can you be removing money like this in public?
Tiger: Oh sorry, sorry, sorry.
Judge Obimpeh: You people paaa how? My friend herh how can you, your man is not….
(The Judge received the money from Tiger).
Tiger: Oh! sorry, sorry
Judge Obimpeh: Everything sorry, sorry. Carrying things like these and you will be moving in public.
Tiger: Because I was keeping it in the..
Judge Obimpeh: No, no. I don’t like that ooo.
Tiger: You see, I even wanted to buy an envelope here but because of the..
Gabriel: Next time you package it well.
Tiger: Okay.
Judge Obimpeh: No, no next time I won’t, will not allow you this ooo.
Gabriel: Is not the best, next time…. If I had seen you earlier on…
Judge Obimpeh: Eherh you, the case is yours.
Gabriel: I will meet with him in the office. No problem, no problem. We’ve been here for long already so we will meet with you, we shall meet with you. So its alright.
Tiger: Okay so, thank you my Lord.
Judge Obimpeh: Okay.
Gabriel: My Lord.
Judge Obimpeh: Okay, then tomorrow.
Gabriel: No, it’s rather Monday.
Tiger: But I told you that we are coming in..
King Gabriel: He knows I’ve told him everything. Don’t worry about it. The way you did the thing…
Tiger: Err no you see, because it was in the rubber so before, I didn’t know it was going to turn out like this. I would have packaged it in an envelope.
Gabriel: If you remove the money from that…
Tiger: Mmm yeah, yeah.
Gabriel: He will see that the whole thing is for him and you have separated it.
Tiger: Ahh yeah, yeah.
Gabriel: You shouldn’t have done it like this koraa. He is the one going.
Tiger: Mmm.
Gabriel: Now that he is going, he now has power.
Tiger: Mmm.
Gabriel: If I had seen you…
Tiger: I wanted to buy the envelope here. I have that in mind alright.
King Gabriel: But you were here long time.
Tiger: No, no I didn’t get, I was standing over there until you told that I should come and check here.
Gabriel: Err.
Tiger: So when I entered like this, I was coming here to buy the thing, then your call came again that I should come there. So I just came.
Gabriel: This one de3 if I come see you early koraa, you would have removed the other one and put it into my car and then give the old rubber to him.
Tiger: Yeah.
Gabriel: Is serious oo they don’t like, you give, open the money like this. I told you GH¢ 5,000.00. You gave him the GH¢5,000.00 err?
Tiger: Yeah, I gave him GH¢5,000.00.
King Gabriel: But I’ve already discussed with him. The fuel was delaying us so I have to go…
Tiger: (Tiger receives a call)
Gabriel: He came and met me in the office.
Tiger: Mmm.
Gabriel: He came to meet me in the office: he was like herh.
Tiger: Oh sorry, sorry I didn’t know
Gabriel: Mmm.
Tiger: You see I wanted to buy, I know the implication… you know me.
Gabriel: Mmm.
Tiger: Just that because of the time factor nu.
Gabriel: The remainder nu. (Gabriel receives an amount of money from Tiger).
Tiger: The remainder.
Gabriel: Okay, so now how do we do it? Okay then, so that err. Next time de3
Tiger: Mmm.
Gabriel: You have to package the thing well oo.
Tiger: Okay.
King Gabriel Grabs His Share Of Bribe And Tells How He Rapped Judge Obimpeh Over Our Mistake
Tiger engaged with Gabriel over the manner in which the bribe was delivered and the way forward in trying to rectify the wrong of giving money to a Judge in the open. Even before Tiger proffered options, it turned out that Gabriel had done some work behind us.
And at his brutally frank best, Gabriel spoke freely as our cameras captured every video and sound and of course, he grabbed his bribe sum and like Oliver Twist, asked for more because he had a funeral and needed money to prepare; Tiger also helped the conversation to flow:
Tiger: So now that we haven’t seen him for, for us to express our apology to him…..
Gabriel: Oo I explained to him. The bus stop is this one err?
Tiger: Emm.
Gabriel: I, in fact I explained to him. I couldn’t have, we couldn’t have brought the goat to him just like that.
Tiger: Mmm.
Gabriel: I went to him and I went and told him that when you went, in fact when we were coming err, I, I told you about what he had done and you regretted it seriously. So when you went home, you also went and told your uncle that you have actually made a mistake.
Tiger: Mmmm.
Gabriel: And this is how we did the whole thing.
Tiger: Ahh.
Gabriel: And err your uncle said no, no, no then you have committed…. Ahah. Thank you (Tiger gives an amount of money to Gabriel). You have committed so in a bid to apologize, he bought a goat that you should come and give to him. So you know Eherh that kind of respect. (Tiger and Gabriel speak together “so that you are really sorry about it”).
Oh okay, okay, alright so when time was due, he called this boy, he called the guy to err send it to the house because I don’t know the house. So he asked him to send it to the house. So he knows about everything; there is no problem at all.
Tiger: Okay, okay because just that I was worried. You know that day because we couldn’t talk, I didn’t also tell him that mine was GH¢ 5,000.00
Gabriel: He is okay.
Tiger: Okay.
Gabriel: Err don’t worry about it koraa, he is okay. Everything is under control. Now he was asking me when is the next adjourned date. Because of the way we’ve by passed the woman now.
Tiger: Myself I didn’t even know the next adjourned date.
Gabriel: Because of the way the woman was treating us and I by pass her, she came and met me in the office the other day.
Tiger: Ahh.
Gabriel: When I was talking to the woman so when I went, charley the woman come make me wild aaa so I have to give her some money.
Tiger: Oh I see.
Gabriel: And err now err is like she is feeling like aaa I by pass her through the whole thing so she is not getting anything. She is trying to be some hard…. I don’t want to go and ask them for the date and all that. So let the man go and find out when the case is coming on.
Tiger: Okay.
Gabriel: At least tell him that I said we have done everything. And he said I should be tracking the case too for him. He said I should be tracking for him so when they come to go, whatever that happens, I will go and then, I should be reminding him. He said I should be reminding him, I should be tracking him.
Tiger: Okay.
Gabriel: So anytime anything is happening, let your guy inform me. When they inform me and I know about how things are, I will go and check myself. I will go and find out from him.
Tiger: Okay.
Gabriel: I will also go and tell him…
Tiger: Okay.
Gabriel: How things are going. Actually, the guy shouldn’t show his face, he should pretend as if he doesn’t know what’s happening. Because he is not the one I sent.
Tiger: Yeah.
Gabriel: I told the old boy that err my friend’s uncle is directly involved in the old thing. He has interest in the land.
Tiger: Yeah.
Gabriel: He has interest in the land and the err he is on the side of Alfa Musa.
Tiger: Mmmm
Gabriel: So all that we are doing is pushing Alfa Musa to win the case. If Alfa Musa wins the case, then my brother will be free. So we are working for Alfa Musa. That’s what I told him and he was okay. So right now, we know he is doing the case for Alfa Musa.
So that’s all we to ….. So we have to now look at how…. If we could get him today, this evening or tomorrow like I go like ooo. Because I’m pressing up for money paaa.
A Return To Cover Lost Grounds, A Goat Gift Seals The Judge’sDeal
Two things were clear from our last interaction with Justice Obimpeh, he was not happy about the manner in which we presented our bribe, the 'naked' nature of the money had him disturbed. On our own part, we could not explain the details of the case to him.
The plan was to clear up these two areas. One; we planned to send him a gift of a goat and during that informal session, try to talk a bit about the case in question and on the occasion, to draw in issues of the payment.
That would also not come easy. On one part, all attempts to reach him at his residence proved futile because he was unavailable whenever we were ready and we insisted on meeting him in person to deliver the gift.
Tiger: Yes sir.
Judge Obimpeh: How are you?
Tiger: I’m fine.
Judge Obimpeh: You know me?
Tiger: Yes sir. I’m the one who came with Gabriel at the court there for errr.
Judge Obimpeh: Ahhhh Gabriel, Gabriel ahah. Yeah, yeah, yeah ah. How are you?
Tiger: I’m fine sir.
Judge Obimpeh: Then how did you know here?
Tiger: We came, I brought a goat here with him (Gabriel).
Judge Obimpeh: Ahhh.
Tiger: But I have a company that I supply goats and yams too.
Judge Obimpeh: Oh okay.
Tiger: So we were there this morning when they called me that I should bring them the goods. So we just brought it, my brother and I.
Judge Obimpeh: Ahaa.
Tiger: So we were passing by and I said ooh if I have err called you to know whether you are in the house, I would have brought you some along; goat and yams.
Judge Obimpeh: Oh okay.
Tiger: So I was just saying that let’s pass by and then let me find out if you are there.
Judge Obimpeh: Oh okay, okay.
Tiger: Unfortunately, when we came to ask the gateman, we didn’t know it is err such a this thing such a system. So, otherwise we wouldn’t even stop.
Judge Obimpeh: Ahhh
Tiger: We could have just passed by. But we asked and they said okay, that one unless you know we are coming and we said oh no, it’s not like something that you knew.
Judge Obimpeh: Ahh I don’t know.
Tiger: Mmhmm, you don’t know me but I just wanted to come and deliver some information to you. That’s what I just told them. You know I came with him on our Alpha Musa case.
Judge Obimpeh: Eee that’s alright. I can remember now. How are you?
Tiger: I’m fine sir. You know because I couldn’t get the opportunity to tell you, I would have informed you my uncle is not Alpha Musa.
Judge Obimpeh: Mmmm.
Tiger: But, yes sir. My uncle is err the one who is interested in the particular land that they are on.
Judge Obimpeh: Mmmm.
Tiger: Eherh so he gave me that GHc 5,000.00 to come and give you but he is also saying that err, you know Gabriel told him, I think Gabriel told him we have to give you GHc 8,000.00.
Judge Obimpeh: Mmmm
Tiger: Eherh So I was telling him that if I come, I will pass by to tell you and maybe tomorrow I can make arrangement and bring it. Errr I see so where is your uncle?
Tiger: He is in err Madina area.
Judge Obimpeh: Mmmm.
Tiger: Around American House.
Judge Obimpeh: If anything, you have to tell Gabriel ooo.
Tiger: Ahhhh.
Judge Obimpeh: Anything you do, I don’t want to….
Tiger: Ahhhh.
Judge Obimpeh: It has to by pass through him.
Tiger: Ahhhhoooo.
Judge Obimpeh: Anything you want to do……
Tiger: Okay, okay I see alright, alright.
Judge Obimpeh: Okay.
Tiger: Okay sir.
Judge Obimpeh: Okay so what’s your name?
Tiger: My name is Ahmed.
Judge Obimpeh: Ahmed alright. Okay….
Tiger: Okay then …
Judge Obimpeh: So where do you get the goat from?
Tiger: We get the goats from…..we brought them from Burkina Faso in the north.
Judge Obimpeh: Ahhaa
Tiger: Mmmm that’s where we get them from.
Judge Obimpeh: Bring me some.
Tiger: Okay.
Judge Obimpeh: Goat.
Tiger: Okay sir I will bring it.
Judge Obimpeh: Maybe tomorrow.
Tiger: Yes sir tomorrow.
Judge Obimpeh: Eee tomorrow I’m in the house.
Tiger: Okay sir.
Judge Obimpeh: That’s right.
Tiger: Okay sir thank you.
Judge Obimpeh: My brother, how are you?
Tiger 2: Fine.
Judge Obimpeh: That’s right. Okay bye, bye.
Tiger: Bye, bye. Let’s sit down.
Those were not the last pleasantries exchanged between Tiger and the learned Judge Obimpeh, a goat has since been delivered to him and we expected him to keep his word on this. Gabriel had pulled it off again in style.
The Judge had reservations along the way but someway, somehow, was comfortable receiving cash sums in public to grant legal favors. Like the many other cases, we did not know Alpha Musah or any of the parties in the game but thanks to corruption, it was possible to jump into a case and fish out people who should know better, gleefully breaking the law.
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