SCENE ONE: DATE: JANUARY 7, 2009 President Atta-Mills is sworn into office as the successor to President Kufour. In his maiden Presidential speech, he promised: “No Ghanaian should live in fear of armed robbery. Many of our people cannot move around for fear that somebody would attack them. Improvement in internal security would therefore be one of our top priorities”. With so many other words, the President meant that his leadership was going to usher in a near corruption-free; armed-robbery-free; criminal-free society. Then he takes up office and begins to attack his Agenda-Asomdwee-Better-Ghana. The armed robbers straight away set out to challenge his resolve. The police went after them. The front-pages of our newspapers were daily littered with dead bodies of armed-robbers. The police seemed to have acquired additional powers- unspoken and unwritten: “Chase the armed robbers; if you have to shoot- just make sure it’s a knock-out shot, and not a knock-down one. You have become: Arresting Officers, Prosecutors, Attorneys, Judges and Executioners!” (Just thinking out loud- definitely not meant to cause fear and panic). At least on one occasion the IGP and some of his top lieutenants were at the Castle to receive the enviable ‘Asomdwee-pat’ on their shoulders and the ‘Hallelujah Praise’- they had done a good job of ‘finishing’ the armed robbers. Whiles some of the populace welcomed this development, a minority felt that ‘instant justice and a shoot-to-kill policy’ could endanger the lives of the very citizens this policy has set off to protect. This group felt the Police could aim their bullets at ‘non-fatal’ sections of the bodies of the robbers; so that they could rather be arrested and taken through the court processes. After thorough fair trials - establishing their guilt beyond any reasonable doubts (and all legal appeals dealt with) - they should then be led to the stakes, to receive just recompenses for what they set out to do to others. This is an essential part of the “Rule of Law”. It seems our Heads of State and Presidents, since 1986, have ‘vowed’ not to effect the death sentence. If the Police could do it for them- under the pretext of self-defense- that was their preferred option. If former President Rawlings, a military man, chose this option sometime during his nineteen-year reign; it is absolutely mind-boggling for an Oxford-Trained Lawyer and a Professor of Constitutional Law to acquiesce to this same crude and unwritten policy of ‘shoot-and-kill’ as a first option of taming armed robbers. The robberies were somehow reduced for a season. But then the robbers began popping up from all kinds of places. They have become viler and grossly barbaric with their demands on their victims. They will not only rob them of their wealth and belongings; but sometimes humiliate them through sexual demands; and even ask their victims to do same amongst themselves. Though the police continue to assure us that the crime rate is coming down; the quality of the ‘fewer’ crimes are so chilling that, the feeling of insecurity may have rather accentuated. Two Pastors of the same church were attacked and shot at different times. One died, the other is still undergoing treatment. At the trial of the three young-men who attacked the Pastor who died; the three rather young robbers cried out “Kill us now’”. SCENE TWO: The Ghana Police are the main actors in this scene. The police PRO, Kwesi Fori, served in this same position during Kufours regime. He kept telling Ghanaians at the time that: “The police are on top of the crime wave. We are equipped and ready to take on the criminals whoever they are and wherever they are”. He was at post when cocaine stored at the Police Headquarters mysteriously metamorphosed into “kokonte”. Under the new President, Kwesi Fori keeps telling Ghanaians how the Police force is now even in “better-charge” of the situation. He was questioned as to what may have contributed to the new image of the “Better-Ghana-induced-Status”. His answer? - Yours maybe as good as mine! He is quite a colourful personality though! The Asomdweehene’s government decided to embark on some housing scheme for the general public, the Police and other security agencies. This has famously become known as the STX Korean Housing Scheme. The government claimed it was entering into contracts with the STX Company that will fetch 200,000 ‘Affordable Houses’ that were going to cost Ghanaians $10 billion. Professionals and other concerned citizens felt that the average cost of $50,000 per house had nothing to do with ‘affordability’. The other difficulty was that this average cost did not include the land, and all the ground infrastructure and utilities that ‘must be provided by the Government and people of Ghana’. These additions could increase the average cost to over $60,000. These calculations obviously led to the raising of concerns by the Opposition NPP (and some other minority opposition elements), and GREDA, the professional association of real estate developers. GREDA submitted estimates that could build the houses at far cheaper prices. The government Propaganda Machinery then turned around to the Police and told them: “Police men and Military men; the NPP does not want you to get good housing”. As a result of this, Policemen were commandeered to Parliament House on the last day of the debate on the STX Loan Approval- probably to ‘intimidate’ the NPP members and others in the chamber who had raised very legitimate concerns. The previous government initiated what they called the Single Spine Salary Structure, meant to streamline the Payroll of all under her employ. The Police seemed to have benefited a lot from this. Since the NDC Government implemented this policy, the Police heaped lots of praises on the President and his men. So to some extent the Police want to do ‘everything’ to prove to the Presidency that they are appreciative of their new-found ‘high standards’. This is the background of Scene Three. SCENE THREE: Recently there was a young lady on one of the numerous FM stations- Adom. She narrated to the ‘shock’ of Ghanaians what she and some travelers had been taken through by a gang of robbers on a journey from Accra to the North, via Kumasi. The gang of robbers asked all the passengers to strip themselves naked; and pair up (male-to-female); and have sex together at gun point. A man was forced to sleep with his 14 year old first-year student (who was also a virgin). According to the lady who narrated the story; all the passengers agreed that what had happened to them was so humiliating that, they should all keep it a secret. They sat in the bus and went to report to the police that they had been attacked by armed robbers who had shot at the bus and broken the windscreen. The Police recorded this and gave the necessary Police Report to the driver. The lady, on her return to Accra narrated the events to a male friend who felt the story must be told to a radio station, contrary to the agreement of the victims. The lady was invited by other radio stations to testify. This got to the President, and in his characteristic ‘Better Ghana’ spirit, summoned the leadership of the Police Force to the Castle. This is the beginning of the Saga of Amina Mohammed (for this is the name of the lady who narrated the ‘secret’ to the radio stations). This is the unfolding of a story that the Fantes may call “Bisi Bisi Baasaaa”. A holy-father-crime-busting-asomdweehene-humble-Nkrumaist-Pesident; teaming up with- an obedient-grateful-hardworking-never-do-wrong-new-Better-Ghana-Police-Service, ‘heavily drunk’ on the Single-Spine Wine – on one hand; against a young lady, mother of three-young-children- and a branded ‘dangerous woman with a dangerous hoax, calculated to bring Ghana to international shame and ridicule- with the ultimate objective of driving away investors- on the other hand! Friends, stay tuned. These are interesting times in Ghana. Our Professor of Constitutional Law is fully in charge of the Saddle-of-State. He seizes every opportunity to let us know that: “Whether you like it or not, I am the only President of Ghana”. Do not miss Part Two next week! THE PROPHET’S COUNSEL Ecclesiastes 5:4-5 (New Living Translation) 4 When you make a promise to God, don’t delay in following through, for God takes no pleasure in fools. Keep all the promises you make to him. 5 It is better to say nothing than to make a promise and not keep it. Even Jesus Christ had in his team of twelve, Judas, who finally betrayed him. Judas was supposed to have had some demons and was also a thief. He kept the purse for Jesus- and he made sure he lived well from it- whether Jesus sanctioned it or not. Uncle Asomdwee may have some competences and skills that ‘even Christ did not have’. All the developed countries have their fair share of armed robberies, grand crimes, petty thievery, and all sorts of socially deviant activities. So maybe Uncle Atta has some tricks the whole world can benefit from. Uncle Atta- go for it; please do not mind anyone- they are all jealous! God richly bless you all. Written by Prophet Micaiah Email: prophetmicaiah@gmail.com ; Blogs: http://prophetmicaiah.blogspot.com. Facebook. Did you read the Prophet’s three-part treatise on The Dangers of Presidential Double-Speak? Follow him at the following links… The Dangers of Presidential Double–Speak (I) The Dangers of Presidential Double–Speak (II) The Dangers of Presidential Double–Speak (III)