Tema, Sept 04, GNA - Mr Tony Lithur, a legal practitioner has taken the Ghana Bar Association (GBA) to task for failing to speak up against the incarceration of Mr Tsatsu Tsikata, Former Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC). Mr Lithur said the inability of the Bar to speak up against the incarceration of Mr Tsikata cast a slur on the integrity of the Association, adding that it must not keep mute on Tsatsu's sentence, which he described as unfair.

Mr Lithur, who is also a member of the 'Free Tsatsu Tsikata Campaign Movement" told a forum at Tema, which was to educate the public on Tsatsu's case, added that the incarceration was a replay of the atrocities of military regimes.

Tsatsu Tsikata was convicted to five years imprisonment by an Accra Fast Track High Court on June 18, 2008 for willfully causing financial loss to the state.

Mr Lithur reminded Ghanaians that the nation had ceased to be under military rule long ago and it would be wrong to repeat the mistakes of past governments especially military regimes. "These mistakes must not be repeated, doing so would have a negative effect on the country's democracy', Mr Lithur said adding "Ghanaians will have problems if people continue to compare constitutional rule to that of a military rule. Mr Lithur appealed to the government to look at Mr Tsikata's case in the light of the 1992 constitution and allow the judiciary to administer justice independently with no political influencing. "Judges must protect the fundamental human rights of Ghanaians no matter who appears before them", he stated Mr Kwesi Pratt, Editor of the Insight newspaper and a member of the movement said members of the campaign were interested in ensuring that every Ghanaian get access to justice irrespective of their political affiliation.

Mr Pratt indicated that "no matter what has happened in our history, nobody must be denied justice". He entreated the public to vote for a government that would ensure the protection of innocent people. Miss Esther Cobbah, wife of Mr Tsikata thanked the public for their support and asked them to show their disagreement to her husband's imprisonment.