Editorial: Worrying Flashback

It is dangerous for democracy when officialdom shows a proclivity to thwart the course of justice. In the past ten months, a lot has happened in the area of justice administration that we are compelled to conclude that something is amiss. Government sincerity has more than adequately been tested as regards the resolve to allow the law to take its cause without undue interference. The authorities have, without doubt, failed the citizenry in this regard as they show adequate traces of favouritism and proclivity to engage in permanent propaganda tactics and robbing governance of civility. The trick which has been foiled on the people is to put on hold, cases whose prosecution and outcome can be embarrassing for government. After sometime, such cases naturally die off and confined to the pages of history, with the now classic excuse that �investigations are ongoing.� A few months ago, some persons were murdered at the Agbogbloshie Market and even though the clue about those behind the deadly action was not far-fetched, as it was within the reach of the Police, nothing has been heard about it to date. Even though we were assured that all would be done to bring the culprits to book, we have not heard anything about the case again and do not think we would ever do so because that is the desire of the authorities. We are referring to this subject for the umpteenth time and feel saddened that nothing would come out of it after all. Those who survived the bloody savagery of that day are ready to furnish the security agencies with the names of those who attacked and killed their colleagues. The question which crops up is: will the police be permitted to go ahead with their investigations without undue interference? We have retrogressed as a nation and gradually edging ourselves out of the comity of civilized nations where good governance is a norm. Salifu, aka MKK, died mysteriously after taking part in a picketing activity when Hon. Asamoah-Boateng was held at the Greater Accra Regional Office and a post mortem was undertaken to determine the cause of death. Suspicions that he was killed through police brutality made it even necessary for the cause of death to be established. The post mortem report is still locked up somewhere because the authorities do not want anybody outside government to know what killed the young man. Is that what good governance is about in a country which is supposed to be ruled by laws and not men? We are surprised that since the young man died under mysterious circumstances, with no cause of death report being released, nobody has bothered to take the authorities on. Good governance practices across the world do not have room for such aberrations, especially when the President campaigned with the pledge that he would make the rule of law a priority. Recently, a son of the Bawku constituency chairman of the NDC was arrested for being part of a group of young men undertaking a weapon training exercise on the outskirts of Bawku. The young man was said to have been brought down to Accra, and when that was done, pessimists sneered and said that was the end of the case. It appears they were right after all, as nothing has been heard about the case again. Even as we write, we are sure that many cannot recall what we are referring to, a lot of water having passed under the bridge since then. He could have been left off the hook surreptitiously. We are rightly informed that but for the insistence of the Crime Officer in Bawku, Sadat Yakubu, the NDC activist who was jailed yesterday for bearing a firearm in the conflict zone, would have been left of the hook. The MCE sought to have the then suspect released but when the media got wind of it and blew it, the crime officer was given an impetus to carry out his insistence.