I came across the above quotation the other day as I was rummaging through some papers I wanted to consult for my column today.
This statement was published thirty-two years ago, when I was still a student at the University of Ghana, and five months into the new government of then Chairman Rawlings of the Provisional National Defence Council.
The author rose later in his career to become the first Presiding Bishop of the Ghana Methodist Church, and is now the chairman of the disciplinary committee of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP).
For some inexplicable reason, looking at this citation in an old newspaper brought to mind another memorable turn of phrase made decades ago by the venerable journalist Adjoa Yeboah-Afari in her column Thoughts of a native daughter,’’ in The Mirror.
In looking for a man, Auntie Adjoa said she would look for three qualities, but try as I could, I could recall only two of them; someone who can make her laugh, and someone who can teach her something.
These statements have stuck with me all this while, and rather remarkably sprang to mind as I began putting together today’s column. They are not directly related to what is on my mind today, but I am sure some may find them of some use as they navigate the crooked pathways of our lives as Ghanaians.
Right at the onset, I must say at once I disagree with the authorities of this paper on the stance they have taken with respect to the Daniel Kenu assault case and how it panned out in court and in the press generally.
It is my considered opinion that the reactions of many of us, including this paper, stem from the abysmal performance of the national team in the World Cup tournament in Brazil two months ago, and we are all subliminally seeking some form of revenge for our sense of disappointment and feelings of betrayal.
Add to this sense of disappointment the revelations at the sittings of the Justice Dzamefe commission, and you have a justifiably angry people looking for scapegoats to visit their anger on.
Unfortunately, our captain, Asamoah Gyan, behaved quite well in the whole Brazil fiasco, and seeking to antagonise him is misplaced and a sign that the love of soccer can make us unreasonable at times.
As I write, news just came in that Ghana has won a continental cricket competition in South Africa, without a demand for appearance fees, and other exotic requests that sent the Black Stars tailspinning into oblivion in Brazil.
I am expecting our sports journalists to lead the crusade to have our cricketers rewarded and the sport promoted into a significant competitive and recreational pursuit in this country.
What I find more disagreeable about the general disapproval of the Kenu’s handling of the assault case is the unfounded assumption that pressmen have rights different from other citizens under our laws.
The press does not constitute the fourth estate of the realm because this is a republic, not a monarchy. We did not vote for journalists, and they cannot have any rights to set them apart. If some of us want it to be so, others will plead the same based on their vocations, and equality under the law would be a sham.
The unproven, malicious allegation that Kenu has accepted restitution to drop the matter is irrelevant. It was old BJ da Rocha who kept saying that heroes and martyrs were only good for the history books.
Kenu is not obliged to be anyone’s hero, and we should respect his choice, especially since we all know he would have been promptly abandoned at the end of the case if it had travelled the full distance in court.
CHRAJ Commissioner Lauretta Vivian Lamptey has been in the news for the wrong reasons in the past week. Under normal circumstances, the allegations of abysmal lack of judgement levelled against such a high public official would have been investigated and dealt with by the very CHRAJ she presides over.
Readers will recall that months after she took office, a storm broke out over her head for seeking to retain her directorship on the board of Ghana Commercial Bank (in addition), in contravention of the rules. Clearly, her background and experience in banking may have influenced that decision, but she was in the wrong.
Already, there are reports petitions are flying to the President to activate the impeachment process to have her forced out of office as per the Constitution.
The question to be asked is:Is the process of impeachment necessary and expedient as far as she is personally concerned, knowing the ugly and disgusting details that may emerge at such hearings, propagated by a rampaging media looking for juicy news to publish?
In our part of the world, her position is not only constitutionally and politically significant for us as Ghanaians, but as a woman, she has become a role model for many, and a source of example for those who seek gender equality in our governance.
Her continued stay in office, with these threats hanging over her and her office, is clearly harmful to the relevance of CHRAJ itself, and an albatross over the political class of appointees, as if public service is the arena where deliberately wrongful choices can be sustained with impunity. She should spare all of us the ordeal of watching with ill-concealed glee her destruction, and resign forthwith.
