Open letter to Speaker of Parliament: Rest The Hawk, Save Our Democracy
Dear Mr. Speaker, a while ago, I published an open letter to the Chief Justice of our Republic, Her Ladyship Justice Gertrude Araba Esaaba Sackey Torkornoo. The sentiments contained in that letter came from puritanical intentions and aligned, I believe, with pervasive public perceptions of our apex court.
I argued that the waning trust in the judiciary is a major risk to our democracy. We may have enjoyed over 30 years of our 4th Republic, but we should not get too comfortable. Reports of democratic recession globally and a disenchanted African youth must guide our governments and leaders. The disillusionment of many in the failure of our democracy to deliver the promises of our 1992 Constitution paints a fragile democracy. Please let’s not take our progress for granted.
Mr. Speaker, following the dismissal of your motion to have the Supreme Court vacate its orders in the Afenyo Markin vs. The Speaker case, there are many expecting that you will ignore the apex court and proceed in an assertive fashion. Well, you may do that, perhaps with limited consequences for your person as the rest of us would have faced if we disobeyed the Supreme Court. But that may be High Crime. One that must be punished irrespective of whose ox is gored.
While the hawks would applaud the no-nonsense ‘kinkong’ Bagbin persona on the sidelines, it would ring uncertainty, or even doom, for our democratic governance. Our Constitution has granted hegemony of adjudicative powers in our courts, and installed the Supreme Court as the final arbiter in that enterprise.
Your disrespect of the court’s decision will set a dangerous precedent and disturb the harmony in our governance institutions. Can you imagine the anarchy of having the various arms of government opt to disregard the orders of the Supreme Court? Maybe the citizenry and security agencies will follow suit and there goes our statehood.
The constitution envisages the occurrence of conflicts in the everyday dealings of the citizenry as well as the dealings of our governance structures. For the sustenance of governance and the progress of the State, conflicts cannot be allowed to continue in perpetuity and for this reason, the Supreme Court in Article 129 is charged with bringing finality to conflicts, including conflicts with itself. ‘We-the-people’ through the constitution, empowered it with counter-majoritarian powers. We did this in the full knowledge that it may hurt intertemporally but surely provides structural stability for the advancement of the State.
Respectfully, Mr. Speaker. Like all of us, you are entitled to disagree with rulings and judgments of the court when they are perverse, or even threaten the ideals of our Constitution. The mere existence of a flaw in the court’s decision does not necessarily mean it should be disobeyed, any more than the mere existence of a bad character trait in a child means he should be abandoned. It is true that the indeterminacy and manipulability of law mean a court’s decision can sometimes be atrocious, offensive, and desecrate justice. But disobedience resets our governance systems to a primordial anarchic state.
Judges themselves accept that they can be wrong. It was a former Nigerian Chief Justice, Chukwudifu Oputa, who said that the law is what the Supreme Court says it is even when it is wrong. In other words, a court’s decision may be subject to decisive objections, like this current one, but until reversed, or steps are taken to change it, must be obeyed, nonetheless.
Mr. Speaker, while the hawkish voices may be loud, cacophonous and tempting, I strongly urge you not to fall into the trap of counter-productive inter-organ collision which now threatens the efficiency of our state.
I urge you to put country first and save our democracy from the excessive partisan polarization we face today.
If you can do this, your place in our history as an extraordinary statesman is assured.
From the caves of Klefe-Demete, my humble village, I remain.
Senyo K. Hosi PS: Dear Speaker Alban, it’s not time to be Man, it’s time to be Statesman, posterity will be kind to your time.