President Mahama’s sweet words, and the irony
President John Mahama no doubt sought to highlight his, and Ghana’s, democratic stature when he addressed the UN General Assembly last week, on September 21.
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He was quoted as saying: “I am proud of my country. We are variously called the ‘model of democracy’ in Africa or the ‘beacon of democracy’.” What sweet words!
The irony is, that same week, in fact just two days later, here in Ghana, a citizen of Ghana, Fadi Samih Dabbousi, said to be a fierce critic of the Mahama administration, was reportedly arrested at the airport by state security operatives on his arrival from a trip and whisked away for no stated offence.
Mr Dabbousi, a Lebanese-Ghanaian, and said to be a vocal supporter of the opposition New Patriotic Party, was taken into the custody of the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) and not even his lawyer was allowed to see him. He was detained from Friday, September 23, till late Sunday, according to reports.
Yet, the Daily Graphic report quoted above continued, President Mahama had also said in his UN address: “We have not looked back since the adoption of the 1992 Constitution. Successive elections, with power occasionally swinging between opposing political forces, have established Ghana’s democratic credentials in the world.
“He assured the world that the country would pass the test in this year’s elections to maintain its image,” the Graphic of September 22 said.
For its part, the Ghanaian Times of the same day reported the President as saying: “Ghana is a leading democracy in Africa, and I stand before the world today to declare that, just as we have done in the past, the processes before, during and after the (2016) election will mark a further consolidation of Ghana’s credentials as a leading world democracy.”
Why in a democratic country should somebody be arrested and held without charge and denied access to his lawyer?
As reported by the Daily Guide, Mr Dabbousi, a writer, was arrested a week ago today, on Friday, September 23, together with his driver and those who went to meet him at the Kotoka Airport, although the others were released.
He was taken to his house “where copies of his book, 59 Years to Nowhere …And Counting – which is seen as uncharitable to the Mahama government – were seized” and the house ransacked.
The Times reported his lawyer, Mr Hassan Tampuli, as saying that the BNI denied him access to his client. “I was told the officer responsible for the case was not in the office and that I can only have access to him on Monday.”
Mr Dabbousi, reportedly born in Kumasi, is said to be a regular critic of the Mahama administration and vigorously campaigns for the NPP standard-bearer for the 2016 general election, Nana Akufo-Addo. The Guide said “the reason for his arrest has not been made public, but speculations were rife that it may not be unconnected with his criticism of the Mahama administration.”
News of the arrest was reportedly broken on social media. It made headlines and generated concern among democracy activists, leading to a hashtag campaign for his release. There was also a threat by a group calling itself ‘Ghana Must Know Forum’ to stage a demonstration at the BNI premises on Monday this week to back their calls for his release.
Some accounts said that the arrest was in connection with an article he had written about President Mahama on the Internet that was deemed offensive. However, Mr Dabbousi was released late Sunday night without having been charged, reports said. He was only asked to write “a non-caution statement”.
Little wonder that some people are interpreting the BNI’s action as a ploy to intimidate the NPP ahead of the general election in December.
Mr Dabbousi has reportedly said he was not maltreated by the BNI. But that is not the point. Why was he arrested? Why was his house ransacked? Why was he detained? Why was his right to counsel denied?
Needless to say the Dabbousi episode takes people back to a period in Ghana’s history, the bad old days, which we thought we had put behind us – an advancement which President Mahama’s speech in New York seemed to affirm.
The President often talks democracy and the BNI is under the presidency. So why is it that the BNI so often seems to be singing from a different hymn-sheet from the President’s?
Definitely, the Friday detention ordered by an officer who could not be reached even by a lawyer until Monday, is out of tune with what President Mahama had told his august audience in New York just hours before. This should worry, and clearly does worry, many Ghanaians.
And are we to presume that such acts are being done by people seeking to curry favour with the President? In this social media era, are they not counter-productive?
Whoever was responsible for Mr Dabbousi’s arrest might have enjoyed his power to intimidate. But I guess Mr Dabbousi has some consolation.
Thanks to the BNI, people in Ghana and abroad who had never heard of him, or what he stands for, or the offending article, now know the name Fadi Dabbousi.