Attorney General Joe Ghartey: Delusions and Elusiveness of Professionalism, Legality, and Ghana-Centered Ethical Standards, Part 2

“WASHINGTON - The Justice Department has reopened a long-dormant inquiry into the government's warrantless wiretapping program, a major policy shift only days into the tenure of new Attorney General Michael Mukasey...” (Associated Press, 14 Nov 07).

Prof Lungu had no intention of writing a follow-up to the 2nd Nov 07 article, not even after that Marlon Anipa’s totally subjective retort. But then, we read on Ghanaweb the other day that Attorney General Joe Ghartey’s office would prosecute the reported drunk driver who had the misfortune of not being unable to be controlled by the President’s security detail and thus contributed to an accident. That accident, we were told, had the President’s car rolling all over the place and totally strange citizens rescuing the president immediately after the accident. Would AG Joe Ghartey’s decision be on account of a desire for some cheap publicity or some base level reward?

That said, the other reason for the follow-up is a report detailing the “re-birth” of the investigation into the “warrantless wiretapping program” by the new US Attorney General. Barely two days inside the office of the US Attorney General, Mr. Mukasey, a Bush appointee, secured security clearances for the investigations to re-start. Now, consider that according to former AG Gonzales, it was President Bush himself who denied the security clearances for the investigators. That ought to tell Ghanaians a lot about (1) objectivity, (2) the professional pursuit of blind justice, and (3) administration of rule of law in a nation. Consider also that Mr. Mukasey has “made it clear to Congress that he will not tolerate political meddling at the Justice Department, and promised to fire anyone who allows it.”

Now, the retort by Marlon Anipa (Ghanaweb 12 Nov 07) to my article on Attorney General Joe Ghartey’s performance, or should we say, non-performance, must have been an eventful one for Marlon Anipa. Titled, “Attorney General and the Docket: Let's gets real, Marlon Anipa practically asked the people of Ghana and Ghanaweb commentators to thank AG Joe Ghartey. Why? Apparently, for showing up at the PAC hearings to say he did not have those documents, and then confessing and telling the PAC and people the truth - that he had the docket after all. The entire episode ought to have been a revelation from Marlon Anipa. Practically 100% of Ghanaweb comments on that article begged to differ, for real.

So it goes!!

In that 2 Nov piece, I posed the following 10 questions to Attorney General Joe Ghartey. These 10 questions are still valid given that the President has not rather quite on the AG Ghartey reversal, and has instead chosen to deflect attention and responsibility for fighting corruption to “agency internal auditors.” The Joe-Ghartey-Ten Gallon questions are:

1. Ghacem/Scansem - Why has he not packed his bags and gone to Norway or is that considered “Perception of corruption”?

2. Asset Declaration Law enforcement - Why is there a lack of Enforcement and public reports, if only to say where we are with respect to the filings?

3. 1000's of cases of CITIZENS under remand in prisons for weeks, months, even years, CITIZENS who have never seen a judge. Why deprive citizens of citizenship rights, and how much suffering can you allow? (What impact has your efforts had on the absolute numbers of “REMAND CASES”?

4. Sheepishly accepting CHRAJ findings of No Recommendations as fact and neglecting to investigate independently! Why must CHRAJ be your investigative division? Is it part of the game, to pass the buck?

5. MOB VIOLENCE - Failure to issue strong condemnations and prudent public policy statements about rampant Mob Violence and to underscore that there is no Justice in Mob Violence. Why?

6. SEE NOTHING – Please explain the failure to issue strong condemnations against official corruption and abuse of power!

7. DO NOTHING – Please explain failure to warn that perceptions of corruption are grounds for investigation of all activities associated with each person in any public agency or corporation!

8. THE DOCKET-GATE - What happened to the missing docket all those 13 months, the one from the BNI? Of what use was it to you the first time and why was it necessary to send it back to BNI, if that is the case? What are your priority cases for prosecution, and where does this case fit with respect to your priorities for the people of Ghana?

9. THE DOCKET-GATE EXTRA - How many more dockets are in your office that have been with your office more than three months, why, and what is your program to resolve this unconscionable back-log of cases?

10. Freedom of Information Bill (FOIB) - Why is it that your office cannot come out quickly with a Ghana-centered FOIB without the jumbo jet-sized loopholes for politicians and other high level government officials?

So it goes!!

DELUSIONS AND APOLOGISTS FOR GHARTEY & COMPANY:

It was strange for Marlon Anipa to suggest that Prof Lungu was being “orchestrated and manipulated …(by)… corrupt officials, people of opposing political persuasions and friends of drug barons … disingenuous and they must be seen for what they really are."

Really? Is that how it is done in Canada, where your moniker/pen-name originates? What a way to go, Marlon Anipa. Why attempt to malign others trying to help set objective standards and to promote Ghana-centered public policies. How so did you quickly forget that the “charges” against the person you defend by making up facts are perjury charges in most places, including Canada? Do you realize also that it smacks of dereliction of duty, obstruction of justice, and possibly, corruption? In that context, the other question for you, Marlon Anipa, is what is it that you see in the AG that inspires confidence in you, the same things others on Ghanaweb do not see? In other words, what are your real familial, collegiate, professional, and even business ties to Mr. Joe Ghartey, and the Attorney General bureau?

That said, it was refreshing that even Marlon Anipa understood that the “Buck Stops” at the Attorney General's office. But did Anipa know what that means, or was that just talk? Is it not the case that there is only one way where the “Buck Stops.” Is it not called “accountability”? Has Anipa heard of Mr. Ghartey firing anyone for misleading him, or Mr. Ghartey himself offering to quit for misleading the PAC and “rubbishing” the name of his entire agency, and all the people who work under him? And what is it about the Anipa request to Mr. Joe Ghartey to "go back as far as 1992 and dig up all the Auditor-General’s reports and prosecute all officials indicted in the various reports...to start with the current report and work backwards." How pathetic! What a transfer/diffusion of accountability and catch-up for neglect to perform one’s official responsibilities in the first place. Even so, if Joe Ghartey has been doing his job, why must he now do what Marlon Anipa is asking of him?

THE MINIMALIST GOVERNMENT:

As I have said before, many supporters of the current administration like to look back to Ghana’s sordid past and brag about the bad they have not done to Ghana. For that, they want the good people of Ghana to be glad. They even argue that it entitles them to the honorific title, “Honorable this and Honorable that.” Prof Lungu thinks that it is not always useful, wise, or productive for the people of Ghana to judge the current government by the policies of previous governments. The objective position is this: 7 years and counting, the government of today is the government of the day. Attorney General Ghartey is the chief professional law enforcement officer in Ghana. He has free reign to prosecute anyone he wants if he does it impartially, and with due process. But is he? Will he? Sad to say, so far, not so good!!

IS THERE HELP FROM PARLIAMENT’S PUBLIC ACCOUNTS COMMITTEE (PAC)?:

The other item that caused me to re-visit the Attorney General Ghartey question was the Ghanaweb report titled, “Attempts To ‘Remote Control’ PAC.” In that 16 Nov Ghanaweb report, the Chairman of the PAC, Samuel Sallas-Mensah, threatened to resign from his position “if the attempts to remote control the activities of the committee were not halted.” It occurred to me at that point that if powerful individuals in the government and parliament were playing hardball with the PAC and not being cooperative, the beneficiary of that sort of resistance would be people like Attorney General Joe Ghartey who are practically asleep at the wheel, or worse. Clearly if AG Joe Ghartey and the people at SFO and CHRAJ refuse to prosecute persons “indicted” by the PAC, the entire PAC effort will be naught, forget about all the television drama and “I told you sos.” What a sad year it would be for Ghana, if these things came to pass.

ITEM: To the extent there has not been a significant commitment of resources to the Ghana Audit Service by the administration, Prof Lungu agrees with the suggestion by the MP for Asawase, Mr. Muntaka Mubarak: Ghana Audit Service should be allowed to charge Ministries, Agencies and Departments (MDAs) minimum “External Auditing Fees,” being percentage of what the MDAs pay private audit firms for (internal audits) for the same service. After all, most Ghanaians will agree that a super-strong, independent, and professional Ghana Audit Service is an essential requirement for the nascent Ghana democratic institutions, just as a strong Freedom of Information Bill is required to shine light into all corners of the crooked government landscape. In that sense, they are both complementary and supportive.

SUMMARY/CONCLUSION

In closing, I will tell Marlon Anipa nice try! Please come back again with a piece a tad Ghana-centered, without the elusive, self-serving political lenses. I will also say that it is interesting and rather sad that Attorney General Ghartey’s office want to prosecute a minor case but chooses to leave CHRAJ to fend for itself in Ghana’s courts. It is curious that the President of Ghana has not disciplined AG Ghartey over mis-statements to the PAC, and has instead chosen to deflect responsibility and attention from the fight against corruption in Ghana. The PAC hearings have confirmed that Attorney General Ghartey, his appointee, is the “Weakest Link” in the fight against official corruption and abuse of power in Ghana. That to me, has higher priority than prosecuting a low-level “drunk driver.”

At the same time, it is bizarre that while the President of Ghana is directing attention to “internal audits,” he has not announced any significant commitment of resources to each of those internal audit agencies in the MDAs, or to the Ghana Audit Service. But even if he did for the MDA, of what use will it be today, trying to build capacity 3-5 years from today? So the question is, is there a Presidential deflection because of a desire to incapacitate the Ghana Audit Service as the agency of record, the one public Agency where Ghana-centered audits must begin and ultimately end? Is there a scheme to render the Ghana Audit Service as impotent as the Attorney General’s department, and in the process, make naught the findings of the PAC, all the television drama notwithstanding? Clearly, that is the “Real Situation” for Ghana for which Ghana requires answers in order to move forward accountably, transparently, and democratically.

THE OTHER POSTSCRIPT - Freedom of Information Bill (FOIB):

Digest this!! The draft FOIB was proposed by now-discredited Attorney General Joe Ghartey. Note that Joe Ghartey’s denial and confession are some of the very things a Freedom of Information Bill is intended to "sunshine," quickly. Needless to say, the current draft FOIB is bogus and opportunistic. It is full of loopholes and has too many exemptions for public officials and ministers to cheat. That bill needs to be strengthened, quickly, and then passed swiftly. The good news here is that even 3 small groups of 2nd- and 3rd-year law students can do the job within two weeks, with requisite supervision, of course!