Legon asserts authority
In the days of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, when the Pharisees wanted to find fault with Him, they took exception when in healing a sick person Jesus just said, “your sins are forgiven you.” Outraged by what they considered a sacrilege, the Pharisees muttered and intoned that who was this arrogant man who was equating himself with God.
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Jesus openly responded to what the Pharisees were complaining about quietly and asked which was more difficult to do, either to ask the sick person to rise up and walk as healed or to say that his sins were forgiven him. He emphasised that he said the sick man’s sins were forgiven to underline the fact that He had the authority of His father in heaven to forgive sins.
That appears to be what is playing out in front of us, in the case of the University of Ghana, as to whether the university has the power and authority to regulate how roads at the university campus are to be used by motorists.
Following orchestrated outcry from some Ghanaians and the even handed application of brute force from government, the university was compelled to abandon the tolling of the roads within the campus. But now the university has announced new measures to regulate the use of roads within its jurisdiction. We wait to see whether on this score also, there will be Ghanaians, including Members of Parliament, who profess to respect the rule of law but threatened to flout the decision of the university by running their vehicles through the tollbooths to see who would stop them. Would they be ready to submit to the new modalities where the university says only one outlet will be opened to the public and that the other routes can only be accessed by submitting to the authority of the university.
As Myles Munroe has postulated, “the greatest leadership seems to surface during times of personal, social, economic, political and spiritual conflict.” And throughout the crisis period when the university faced the wrath of those who opposed the road tolls, the University Council maintained a stoic posture, insisting that it had the power and authority to do what it had done but refusing to go into diatribe with those who maligned the university authorities. There were those who reasoned erroneously that because the university authorities were paid by government, all their actions must be subservient to that of the government.
But we all need to note that once we are a constitutional democracy, it is the Constitution and the law which must define the authority relationships and social ordering. Indeed, no one should underestimate the role and function of the state in the governance structures of public institutions, including the powers and authorities of the organs of government, namely the executive, legislature and judiciary. While each has clearly defined powers and authority, there is the need for mutualism in the best interest of the state and the people.
The moment one of the arms attempts to subsume the power and authority of the other for whatever reason, the pillar of democracy and constitutionalism will collapse. While respecting one another does not mean playing second fiddle surrendering one authority to maintain that of another will be a failure and betrayal of trust of the people whose sovereignty cannot be sacrificed. Similarly, maintaining one’s powers and authority in the face of challenge from the other cannot be said to be mutiny or rebellion.
The supremacy of the state and the sovereignty of the people must be understood from the fact that all those employed by the state are paid or remunerated by the state. There is no member of government, whether in the executive, legislature or judiciary who is not remunerated by the state. None of them owns the state and cannot therefore be said to be the ones who pay other state employees in whatever capacity.
That is why we the citizens must have an understanding of the rules and laws which define the interrelationships. This understanding is critical because democracy is not only about numbers but equally respect for rules and regulations.
It is in that frame that I am happy that the authorities of the University of Ghana, proving courteous, polite and respectful to government have nonetheless been firm in asserting their powers and authority, giving meaning to a Chinese proverb that “a nation’s treasure is in its scholars”.
In the same manner that Jesus courted the anger of the Pharisees without cause for doing what he had the power and authority to do; the University of Ghana has decided to regulate the use of roads on the campus.
