Easter blues
It’s been a bad week for the New Patriotic Party (NPP). But no sympathy whatsoever should be had for them but for the fact that principle is not on the side of the government and the security agencies.
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It has been hard making sense of the recent happenings during the Easter period. First, three South Africans were arrested on alleged terror charges. It turns out the SA 3, as they became known, were in the country to train the security details of the opposition presidential candidate, Nana Akufo-Addo.
Since then, voices have clashed. Individuals have been held in custody. Battle lines have been drawn. Lots of ink have been spilled over this particular matter. And the conversation is going to go on and on.
But what was that all about? Was there a genuine security threat that the state security agencies had to deal with? Was it all politics by a desperate ruling government hell bent on gaining as much political capital as possible - even if it means discrediting the opposition? Are the government and opposition just on a fool’s errand?
Maybe time will tell; maybe not. But we must be careful how we handle some of these security issues and concerns.
We have read enough not to invite Aesop from wherever he is to give us a lesson or two on the essence of crying wolf without cause.
We must not get to the point where individuals would even think of shrugging their shoulders simply at the sound of a security alert from the government. We should believe the state authorities as and when they tell us about the state of our security.
The events of the past week have done little to restore the confidence that we ought to have in our security agencies. They have become the tool of our politicking.
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This is made especially worse when these security agencies, especially the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI), does not seem to have the voice to speak for themselves - thereby creating a vacuum for mischievous politicians to take advantage of to express their views and sentiments.
The calls and explanations of a government official necessarily invites a response from the opposition; and the waters get murkier and confusing.
We have also seen the cat and mouse game being played by the BNI on the one hand and the courts on the other. Officials of security institutions would usually bow before the Justices of the court as a sign of reverence, deference and in recognition of their constitutional mandate; only to turn round, rub their hands gleefully and disobey the orders of the court or find a reason to disregard the orders of the court.
We have had this behaviour right from the very start. Executive attempts at overreaching the decisions of the courts are as old as the state itself.
There was a time in our history when deportations were rife - especially against politically active individuals who, without sufficient cause, were accused of being foreigners.
The zealousness of the operatives of the state security agencies knows no bounds. Smith J, an expatriate sitting as a High Court judge in an instance where a deportation had taken place in breach of the orders of the court noted: “I cannot overemphasise the undesirability of interference by the Executive with the functions of the court.
Persistent indulgence in such a practice could not have any other than the most serious ill effect on the wellbeing of the country.
Decisions of a court are as binding upon the Executive as the laws which Parliament passes are binding upon the ordinary citizen, and it is the court that enforces upon the people obedience to these laws, thereby aiding parliament in the ordering of the country.”
That was in 1958. And to think that similar sentiments are being expressed in 2016 should serve as further evidence of how we have not matured much as a nation.
And just to be sure - this statement is politically blind. The opposition NPP may be having a bad day because of this incident - as earlier stated. But it shouldn’t take so much thinking to come to the conclusion that they would have abused (and in the event where they come into power, would abuse) the privileges at their disposal in the same way as the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government of the day is abusing its privileges.
Democracy does not get weakened in a day. What we do consistently and on a daily basis weakens it. We have to be focused and alert! And let’s start by respecting the ground rules which we have set for ourselves through the laws and institutions that we have sworn to abide by.
As an English judge once advised: "A man cannot at the same time blow hot and cold. He cannot say at one time that the transaction is valid, and thereby obtain some advantage, to which he could only be entitled on the footing that it is valid, and at another time say it is void for the purpose of securing some further advantage." This is good advice for the NDC and NPP.
(politics _today@yahoo.com)
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