How not to apologise

The story about the uncanny, terse and skewed apology rendered by Dr Mary Awusi, the Chief Executive Officer of the Free Zones Authority, in response to her outburst, puerile, emotional and fanatically partisan rants against the Chairman of the Church of Pentecost, Apostle Eric Nyamekye, resonates with what happened years ago when I was the President of the Junior Common Room of Commonwealth Hall, University of Ghana. 

The Students' Representative Council had convened a meeting to discuss the adoption of meal coupons for use by students in their respective dining halls to ensure that every student got food to eat at moderate costs against the higher food costs outside the halls.

This followed complaints of food shortages in the halls. Before the issue of coupons was discussed, the Commonwealth Hall JCR team—comprising myself as JCR President and my older brother, Kwasi Karikari Achamfuor, who had served two terms as District Chief Executive for Afigya South and Afigya South District Assemblies and was then Chairman of the JCR Food Committee—raised preliminary concerns about the misapplication of funds held by the SRC as a donation to the family of Agyei Barimah, a JCR member who was murdered by a policeman at Accra Central during a Hall Week celebration.

SRC treasurer

The SRC treasurer, who lacked understanding of the question about the money misused by the SRC, retorted that  " if you Commonwealth boys get drunk and behave foolishly, why would some of you not be killed by the police?"

The Agyei Barimah murder was one of the ‘ntamkese’ of Commonwealth Hall, and in that commentary, the treasurer had touched on nerves.

When calm prevailed, the SRC President, Ibrahim Tanko, now Chief Executive of STAR-Ghana, directed the comments to be expunged from the records and asked the treasurer to apologise.

Unfortunately, the Secretary failed to excise the portion and put out the entire proceedings on the notice boards.

Incidentally, it was during the trial of the police suspect in the Agyei Barimah case that I first encountered Tsatsu Tsikata, who offered to represent Commonwealth Hall pro bono.

At the time, I was the chairman of the Agyei Barimah Funeral Committee and, in that capacity, coordinated all activities related to his funeral.

Once what had happened at the SRC meeting had been exposed, that same evening, there was a demand for a mandatory emergency JCR meeting to discuss what should be done to the SRC Treasurer.

In light of what transpired at the meeting, I was reluctant to endorse the proposal to organise an invasion of Volta Hall—specifically targeting the room of the SRC Treasurer. As a result, the executive deliberately prolonged the proceedings into the following day, which offended many of the proponents and led them to walk out of the meeting.

Nothing happened until after two weeks, when at a meeting with the JCR President of Volta Hall on how to plan for an upcoming CUVAAA games, we heard war songs entering the Volta Hall.

When she heard that VANDALS were ravaging the room of the SRC Treasurer, she locked her room, for which I was later called upon to respond whether I was a vegetarian, and did not take advantage as a man when a woman locked a room with a man. CUVAAA represents Commonwealth, Unity, Volta, Atlantic, Adehye and Africa halls, six halls of residence of JCRs at the University of Ghana, University of Cape Coast and Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology.

Rampaging students

The rampaging students destroyed the window to the room and poured refuse on the beds of the treasurer and her roommate, especially as the room was next to the pantry.

The University Council directed Commonwealth Hall to apologise or pay for the cost of repairs.

We accordingly wrote to presumably apologise.

But that is where the problem ignited, as we were told that our apology could not stand as an apology because we had made it conditional and euphemistically rendered it no apology.

We had noted that " if the action of some members of our JCR appears offensive, we resent it".

Prof. S.N. Woode, who later became Chairman of the Public Services Commission, was then the Dean of Students.

He forwarded our letter to the English Department for interpretation and was advised that the language, nuance, and reference to resentment effectively negated any semblance of an apology or admission of guilt, amounting instead to buck-passing.

Consequently, we were surcharged for the damage caused to the building and to the property of the two students involved.

Upon receipt of the letter, we organised another emergency meeting to inform the students about the rejection of our apology and the subsequent surcharge upon determination of the cost.

Incensed, there was a suggestion to go to Volta Hall to cause extensive damage with the readiness to pay for the destruction.

When the next line of action leaked, Prof. Woode invited me to a meeting where the decision to surcharge was revoked, and I was directed to ensure that we did not carry out our threat.

From that time until his death, although he said he admired and liked me, anytime we met, he called me " akwadaa bone", and whenever he was asked to explain, he recounted how we failed to apologise for a wrong and yet escaped punishment.

No apology yet

Dr Awusi has not yet apologised because any apology conditioned upon improper understanding or public misunderstanding is not an apology.

It shifts the guilt or liability from the one being called upon to apologise to the public.

She must apologise properly.

We also need to make a distinction between wisdom, intelligence and knowledge.

More importantly, it is in response to such politically partisan ravings and rhetoric that I have consistently maintained that civil and public servants must not be encouraged to speak on behalf of political parties on national issues.

In that vein, I unequivocally support the position of the National Democratic Congress that any party member holding public office who wishes to contest a leadership position within the party must first resign from that office.

This, in my view, helps to draw a clear line between public service and partisan political engagement.