The stench of Richard Quashigah’s nauseating verbal assault on the CJ stinks to the high Heavens

Like most Ghanaian men, I respect and admire women; especially those who by dint of hard work have ascended to the zenith of their chosen professions. Growing up as a child, I used to adore my mum and any hard working woman for that matter. In our part of the world where until recent past women were considered only as baby making machines, I find it uncivilised and backward for any man worth his boxer shorts to rain scathing insults on any woman in the 21st century just for political reasons. I am not in any way suggesting that a woman’s mistake should not be highlighted. No!! However, I am strongly opposed to tormenting any woman just for ones selfish gains, especially if it’s for political aggrandisement. In recent times, the Chief Justice has been subjected to mental torture and emotional blackmail by the NDC just because she refuses to toe their line. I have thought long and hard for a single justifiable reason for the unrelenting character assassination of Mrs Georgina Wood by shoddy elements within the ruling NDC but have found none. The battering these nefarious characters in the ruling party have subjected the poor woman to, is undeserved, unjustified and simply fiendish.

The NDC through the 31st Women’s Movement claims to champion the cause of the Ghanaian woman so I dare ask; is the Chief Justice a woman from Saskatchewan? Though no NDC woman has put up any defence for the Chief Justice, at least none has yet joined in the stupid rancorous crusade to “kill the cat”. What has the woman done wrong? The ruling party are uneasy because they can’t manipulate her. The Chief Justice is a Christian and has refused to toe the NDCs crooked line and that has given them the jitters hence their schizophrenic cries to blackmail her to resign. The NDC have set out to paint the woman in NPP colours in order to justify their cacophonous agitation to remove her. Why do they blame the CJ when they lose cases at the courts? The truth of the matter is; the NDC have been losing cases preferred against ministers in the Kuffour’s administration either because the former ministers did nothing wrong or that the Attorney General’s department is simply incompetent. It is as simple as that!

The problem is, the NDC as a party have some very good brains when it comes to the interpretation of the law and its application but unfortunately, those ones have been pushed to the background. In their stead, we have loud mouths, half-baked attorneys and to an extent, nitwits operating from the Attorney General Department. The other significant problem facing the NDC is that, they hoodwinked their supporters to vote for them by creating the impression that the NPP ministers were all corrupt and will be jailed if the former came back to power. Since coming back to power though, every case the Attorney Generals department have brought against all the former ministers has failed on elementary technicalities; not even the substantive issues! The Chief Justice has got nothing to do with this. Thank God that the denouement has unravelled before the eyes of the Ghanaian electorates and has proved that the NDC indeed lied their way back to power. I am not in any way suggesting that there could not have been corruption during the tenure of the NPP; no! However, whoever the corrupt ones are; they are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Let no one blame the Chief Justice for the NDCs monstrous lies and the incompetence of the Attorney General’s Department.
Realising that they could not cow the Chief Justice to toe their line, the NDC resorted to threats to bring Mrs Georgina Wood in line hence, the hell raising “….many ways to kill a cat” press conference by chain smoking and whiskey gulping Dr Kwabena Adjei. Once again, the threats did not yield the desired results as the Chief Justice proved that she will not be bullied by empty threats of drug-addled political desperadoes.

NDC is now in overdrive in their desperation to denigrate the integrity of the Chief Justice. Having failed in every attempt so far to frustrate the CJ, they launched another attack on her by accusing her of “looting state lands”. Is the Lands Commission of Ghana run by the husband of Mrs Wood and their children? She legally purchased the plot of land with all the relevant documentation signed and sealed. Where did Mrs Georgina Wood go wrong? Is she not a Ghanaian? Just take a look at the list of the NDC men who have queued recently to take a shot at Mrs Georgina Wood: Dr Kwabena Adjei, Okudjeto Ablakwa and Agyenim Boateng among others: these are men who aren’t even worthy to put her wig on. The one whose comments cut to the marrow is Richard Quashigah, the Propaganda Secretary of the NDC. Addressing a section of students of University of Cape Coast over the past weekend, he described the Chief Justice as “dangerous” and a woman “with no shame” who must resign in her own interest to protect the “little dignity” she has left. Quashigah had this to say; “We have a dangerous CJ, a Chief Justice who has so compromised herself and has no shame to even resign from her position to protect the little dignity that she has. But she is still in office after looting the state lands.” Quashigah further described the CJ as belonging to “a bunch of people we don’t need in the country.” E-b-e-i Efo Quashigah!! It is rather ironic that people like Quashigah who can’t tolerate opposing views should be the one prescribing the criteria one needs to meet to live in this country.

Since assuming his unenviable position as the NDCs Propaganda Secretary, Richard Quashigah has not stopped spewing nauseating garbage the stench of which ascends to the high heavens. From the earthquake scare some few months ago, through the Atiwa by-elections to the current needless assault on the CJ, Quashigah has grasped every opportunity to demonstrate his naivety. “Propaganda” is defined by the “Concise Oxford English Ditionary” as “information especially, of a biased or misleading nature….” The foregoing explains the meaning of the position Richard Quashigah occupies with glee. That Quashigah has been doing justice to his position by putting out biased and misleading information to deceive the Ghanaian electorate is not in doubt. In simple terms, he is paid by the NDC to lie and mislead Ghanaians. Is that the peak of Richard Quashigah’s chosen profession? For a man whose only claim to fame and prominence is the tag he wears as the Propaganda Secretary of a party to nonchalantly describe the sitting CJ as “dangerous”, a woman “without shame” and belonging to “a bunch of people we don’t need in this country” is absolutely preposterous. The same woman who has given 30 years of her life to the service of mother Ghana!! This chauvinistic posturing of the NDC against the Judiciary is really dangerous and the assault on the Chief Justice and for that matter the Judiciary does not bode well for our country. Quashigah’s penchant to foolishly wade into issues without any thought-through argument is immature. Does Richard Quashigah have any dignity as a ‘medium for spreading lies’ of a political party? No! Does the NDCs Propaganda Secretary measure to the CJ in terms of personal and professional achievement? No!! If a nonentity like Richard Quashigah whose comments borders on buffoonery thinks he has any dignity to pass judgement on the CJ, his wife or girlfriend will be the better judge. I will save my judgement on him.

As for the CJ, I for one am happy that she has calmly stood up to these political bullies and their fiendish machinations. Her calm demeanour deceptively masks her bravery. The NDC had thought they could cow her to submission. They underestimated the woman’s bravery. I pray God to continue to strengthen the CJ’s resolve to remain steadfast to her calling. Like the biblical Esther, I believe the good Lord brought Mrs Georgina Wood to this position for such a time like this. The likes of Richard Quashigah are but mere political nincompoops who shouldn’t be taken seriously. Richard Quashigah’s utterances over the past weekend have made him look even more monstrously stupid in the eyes of any right thinking Ghanaian. The CJ should not grant the NDC their wish by resigning and I am pleased that she has so far called the bluff of the Dr Kwabena Adjeis, Richard Quashigahs et al. Mrs Georgina Wood has proven to be a woman of valour and I can assure her that a good number of Ghanaians are firmly behind her.

Long live Ghana
Long live the Ghanaian Judiciary
Long live Mrs Georgina Wood

Kofi Kyei-Mensah-Osei