Opinions of Thursday, 19 February 2009

Columnist: Annoh-Manso, Jerome

Who is this Egbert Fabille?

It is said ‘wonders will never end’. I am wondering if we all reside in the same Ghana and why some people take interest in confusing the rest of us because of their ability to hop from one media house to the other.

Where is Egbert Fabille coming from? Is he now descending from planet Mars? Was he in Ghana in the past eight years when Ghanaians wanted lawyers to come to our aid due to pervasive injustice, twist of the law and crazy executive decisions? We needed people to make justified, credible, responsible and respectable noises as against the empty noises he is making today.

Our voting out of the NDC in 2000 in the name of change was rather a self-affliction of all the ills of bad governance. Indeed, all the arms of government under the Kuffour regime were culpable of bad governance.

Was Egbert Fabille in Ghana when:

Former President Kuffour suggested that the Supreme Court decision on the constitutionality of the Fast Track Court was flawed and therefore reconstituted the bench for the decision to be overturned? Tsatsu Tsikata went to Court for review and new date of his case but was rather bundled straight to prison without knowing that was judgement day? Supreme Court ruled that CHRAJ had no jurisdiction over Dr. Anane’s case? Before the 2008 elections Parliament passed and approved that nonsensical, fraudulent and disgraceful VALCO deal? For eight years President Kuffour told all Ghanaians he does not need a Presidential jet but decided to order two (2) jets at the time of leaving office? Who is he buying them for? Does this make sense to Egbert? The majority in Parliament approved that nonsensical IFC and CNTCI loans for which they want to be credited with massive ex-gratia.? Dishonourable Dr. Richard Anane embarked upon the world’s ever ‘Super Ministerial promiscuity’ in Ghana’s history? Where was Egbert to make noise about Anane’s role in undermining and frustrating Government’s effort at education and fight against HIV and AIDS? Poor drivers were thrown into jail after attempting to extort huge sums from them and using the wrong law and charges against them?

Egbert, does all the above not constitute violation of the rights of the Ghanaians and all taxpayers, as well as breach of the constitution?

Egbert is making all this noise about Mr. Daniel Gyimah’s detention without knowing the full facts of his continuous detention. I am not by any means justifying unlawful detention. What is wrong is wrong but I’m raising this issue because Egbert made a point to Kojo Oppong Nkrumah to suggest that his colleague Lawyer Bright Okyere Agyekum briefed him. Based on that briefing he went on rampage from Radio station to Radio station disgracing himself. Kojo Oppong Nkrumah’s probing questions more often than not isolate the absurdity in the responses of the regular commentators but they are unaware.

Even as a layman, I would have pressed for Mr. Gyimah’s release from detention based on the stipulations of our constitution rather than suggesting that Mr. Gyimah is a victim of a grand decision that terminated the award of honorary Doctorate degree to Former President Rawlings at the UDS. Egbert claims Mr. Gyimah is being punished partly as a result of that and also because he persecuted some NDC functionaries. In any case, was it not these same so-called lawyers who told us that they and their mother body (GBA) do not engage in politics? How come they now ascribe every action of the enforcement institutions to politics even more than the politicians?

In fact, I said to myself this guy cannot easily win cases in Court as a Barrister because assuming without admitting that Mr.Gyimah actually did those things Egbert is alleging, Egbert was rather telling the Ghanaian population what he did. Therefore, rather than winning sympathy for his client, he was rather jeopardizing his chances and putting him in more trouble.

I wonder if this behaviour of his can win him clients as a lawyer because by my estimation, most of his arguments lack merit. He may be a good material but his regularly baseless and unsupportive claims on air may damage his clientele confidence and relationship.

He should bear in mind that those of them who hastily run to the media houses even before issues become public knowledge get themselves ridiculed when the public finally get to find out the merits and veracity of their frivolous claims.

Egbert should therefore spare us the unnecessary ranting and the divisive vituperation.

Jerome Annoh-Manso