5th April, 2011 COURT RULING ON THE MURDER OF YA NA; IRRESPONSIBLE COMMENTS

The rank and file of the Agona Youth Confederacy wishes to state its position on the current issues concerning the court ruling on the murder of the YA NA. Some people have decided to hide behind others and blind-fold them to the truth, and further cause pandemonium in the country. It should be made clear that we are using the adversary system in Ghana: one is innocent until proven guilty by a competent court of jurisdiction. You find all manner of people making unnecessary scathing attacks on the dignity and integrity of the judiciary without studying the court ruling. It must be well carved and stated unambiguously, that attacking the judiciary is also an indictment on the government and our dear nation.

The Mills-Mahama led administration has shot itself in the foot. In the cause of implicating some people, they have rather ended up exposing their incompetence, chicanery and ignorance. It is very appalling that people who claim to be legal brains of the NDC do not study the ruling but resort to unnecessary attacks on the judiciary. The Rawlings’ have taken advantage of the situation to display their ignorance, double standards and satisfy their parochial interest including Nana Konadu’s flagbearership ambition, this could be attested from Nana Konadu’s Statement after the court ruling ‘’ more disappointing is the fact that the latest sequence of events is due to the failure of the current government to honour its campaign promise of instituting a credible re-investigation into the events and circumstances surrounding that dastardly act of March 2002.

It is also public knowledge that a lot of statements by witnesses were shelved, doctored or ignored during the initial investigations into the matter. The institution of a new investigation will offer the opportunity for these to also come out so credible grounds for a re-trial can be pursued.

The National Democratic Congress was borne out of the pursuit of freedom, justice, probity and accountability. We have a responsibility to the people of Dagbon and Ghanaians, to expose the wrongs of the past and practice governance that instils a sense of trust and confidence in the people.

The government needs to urgently review information available to it and establish a credible and independent Commission of Inquiry to thoroughly re-investigate the Ya Na’s demise, so that all the information that was withheld during the previous investigation will be exposed.’’ If you claim that statements by witnesses were shelved and doctored by the previous government, why then do you condemn the judiciary? Why does Nana Konadu want the government to set up a commission of inquiry, when after that the commission cannot prosecute the culprit? Has she forgotten the ruling of the Ghana @50 trial? Are our judges to blame for the failure of the Mills-Mahama administration? The information is with the husband, so she should ask him when he would be willing to divulge it.

Former President Rawlings should tell us those who were behind the serial killing of women, as he promised Ghanaians? He should tell us what he knows about the YA NA murder, or he still needs a chemical lie detector? Is this what Justice is about?

Mr Rawlings should be the last person to talk about Justice. He is directly the opposite of what he claims to epitomize. He has no moral authority to talk about injustice. If he dares us then he should tell Ghanaians those behind these inhuman conducts. It must also be noted that the friends of the constitution are more than its enemies. We are ready to protect, fight and die for the supremacy of the constitution to remain intact and unblemished. There is a procedure to follow if one is dissatisfied by any judgement or ruling: appeal or review. The Mills-Mahama administration is often at variance with the constitution.

It is clear Rawlings and his wife are using the murder of the YA NA to campaign for her wife’s presidential candidature. This could be attested from their double standard: the attacks on the judiciary and government reluctance to heed to his advice.

Fellow Countrymen, let us not heed to the ill-advice of Mr Rawlings’. They are up to something mischevious. Our good friends and brothers from the Andani Family should understand that the world is a stage; the way people behave on stage is different from the way they behave off stage.

We all support the idea of bringing the perpetrators of the Ya Na’s death to book, but innocent people must also be freed. It is up to the court to determine who is innocent. The courts are not there to imprison people unjustly. The judges work according to the dictates of the constitution but not to satisfy the whims and caprices of anyone. It must be put on record that judges always go by evidences put before them. Our courts are there for us all but not the prosecution team or government only, ‘’ this we hold true as self-evident that all men are created equal and have been endowed with certain unalienable rights among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.’’

We further appeal to the President to use all constitutional means to get the killers of YA NA and 29 others.

Kojo Quainoo 0244 852464 Chairman

Richard Cobbold Secretary