It has been a while since I started my ‘Diary’ with a song.
By the kind courtesy of the Special Prosecutor, Mr Kissi Agyebeng, I have one in this edition. Just tap on your desk or phone as you sing.
“Ankwanoma, mede mekra abɔ afodeɛ oo, Meeyɛ neɛ mɛtumi biaa me mmrɛ so aa na meko oo.” Translated as – “The lonely bird, I have sacrificed my life, I am doing what I can. When my tenure is over, I will leave.”
Incidentally, his kind of bird is the greatest of them all the eagle. According to Wikipedia, eagles have been a symbol of war and imperial power since Babylonian times. So, you can imagine why instead of the perched one in our coat or arms, Mr. Agyebeng chose the flying eagle as the symbol for the logo of the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP).
The man does not seem to escape my radar. Ever since he came to the limelight, I have had cause to comment on him anytime he makes public statements. Hence, I have written three articles about him already. The first one, based on his vetting in July and two within the two-year period that he has occupied the position. The titles of the articles are; ‘6 things we learnt from Kissi Agyebeng’s vetting’, ‘Have a friend, Kissi Agyebeng has one’, and ‘Kissi Agyebeng my best friend, why?’ These are available on myjoyonline.
At the core of my issues with him, is the fact that Mr. Agyebeng seems lost on the fact that he is a public servant. Which means there are do’s and don’ts you must live by. To think that he could go singing Daddy Lumba’s ‘Ankwanoma’ at a press conference of all places beats my imagination. Funny if you ask me.
Can you imagine the Inspector General of Police, Dr George Akuffo Dampare or the Chief of Defence Staff, Vice Admiral Seth Amoama singing ‘Yɛɛ bɛ yɛ bi akoo’ – ‘we are here to do our part’ by a musician whose name I cannot recollect easily in public, because they are frustrated by some actions or inactions of President Akufo-Addo?
Well, due to the circumstances surrounding his appointment, I had cause to forewarn the Special Prosecutor in the article titled, ‘Have a friend, Kissi Agyebeng has one‘ published on July 30, 2021.
Here are excerpts:
“Kissi Agyebeng’s friend
Ghana’s new Special Prosecutor, Mr Kissi Agyebeng’s Friend is called, Mr Godfred Yeboah Dame. He is the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice of the Republic of Ghana. Mr Dame and Mr Agyebeng were classmates in Law School. That’s where they became Friends.
Therefore, when the position of Special Prosecutor became vacant, Mr Dame, on April 16, 2021, nominated Mr Agyebeng, in accordance with Section 13(3) of the Office of the Special Prosecutor Act, 2017 (Act 959), to the President for consideration.
It came to pass that on July 22, 2021, the 43-year-old was vetted by the Appointment’s Committee of Parliament. After the vetting, I was tasked to write a story on things we learned from Kissi Agyebeng’s vetting. I did and drew six lessons.
Later, I realised that I left out one key lesson that I learnt. That is, Have a Friend. If your Friend can elevate you from a position of a Private Legal Practitioner to the country’s most trusted corruption preventer, detector and prosecutor, then there is definitely something good about having a Friend.
Actually, it is an open secret in Ghana that having a Friend or knowing ‘somebody’ opens many closed doors. It was supposed to be ‘what you know’ but it changed to ‘whom you know’, now I hear it is ‘who knows you?’
Don’t let relationships influence your professional judgement
In the 6 lessons article aforementioned, one of them is this, ‘Don’t let relationships influence your professional judgement’.
And this is how I opened this subheading, “No man is an island, we need family relations and friends to get by. But when it comes to public office, the two are not bedfellows”.
According to Mr Agyebeng, “as for relationships, the fact that I was so close to you at some point in our lives, will not give you a free pass because of that relationship… I will not say I am not going to investigate the matter. I certainly will investigate.”
For instance, will you be able to look your friend and benefactor of your current status, Mr Dame, in the face and tell him that, ‘that Minister’, who is the President’s Friend, has been found to have used his/her office for personal gain, so you want to investigate and prosecute?
Mr Agyebeng, just imagine. This is just imagination, that a very close officer to the President. Who works at the Jubilee House. Who is known to enjoy ‘high-life’, is proven to be the brain behind the chartering of the G-Kelt aircraft at the allegedly high cost to the taxpayer.
Keep imagining ooh. It is further proven that s/he benefitted 10% from the transaction. Now stop imagining. Did you say you will “not give [the person] a free pass…?”
Well, if we go by your above referenced assurance, then we can rest assured. However, a Professor of Linguistics of the University of Ghana, Opanyin Agyekum, has a favourite Akan proverb, “Sɛ wodi wano w) ankasɛi a, ɛbi nw) wo da”– ‘if you use mere words to weed thorns, you will never get pricked by any.’
Moreover, if your predecessor, Martin Amidu’s claims of interference in his work, are anything to go by, then I am beginning to see the end from the beginning.
Especially so, when a previous public officer in a complementary public service organisation- The Audit Service, was retired under controversial circumstances. His crime? For allegedly daring to prosecute the then Senior Minister, Yaw Osafo Marfo, a close pal of the President?
Mr Agyebeng, you definitely are between the rock and a hard place. I say so because the politicians that I know, at the least, will not give you funds to operate with if you dare touch any of their anointed.
Just in case you have forgotten, this is what you said when you were asked this question during the vetting;
Question – “If you do not see eye to eye with the President?”
Answer – “There are two choices for a person. You either resign or go ahead. My first inclination will be to persevere. Because, that is my calling and that is the oath that I have sworn. Unless it becomes so unbearable, then I’ll say the Republic should take its job.”
I hope we don’t get there, but my gut feeling indicates otherwise.”
It’s time to go
When I wrote this statement, there was no way I could foretell that within two years, a minister who is so dear to President Akufo-Addo’s heart, Madam Cecilia Dapaah, will be embroiled in suspicion for corruption and corruption-related activities- “For instance, will you be able to look your friend and benefactor of your current status, Mr Dame, in the face and tell him that, ‘that Minister‘, who is the President’s Friend, has been found to have used his/her office for personal gain, so you want to investigate and prosecute?”
Nonetheless, it turns out that due to the suspicion of having engaged in corruption, Aunty Cecie resigned. Interestingly, in his letter accepting the Minister’s resignation, the President said “I am confident, like you, that, at the end of the day, your integrity, whilst in office, will be fully established. I wish you the very best in all your endeavours.”
Now, let’s do some logical deductions here. Our elders say that when a blind person tells you s/he will pelt a stone at you, it means, s/he has a foot on one.
Again, the Anas Principle is an undercover journalism approach involving secretly recording a target noted for a particular wrongdoing. The originator of the principle is called Anas Aremeyaw Anas, a Kwaku Baako-trained investigative journalist of global repute.
He used this principle to prove beyond reasonable doubt, through visual evidence, that judges in Ghana are influenceable. Another thing, President Akufo has publicly declared that he subscribes to this principle.
And it was Kissi Agyebeng who served as the lawyer for Anas when the matter of the judges he filmed in compromising situations was before the courts. You know what our elders say, that when one hunchback person is being buried, another hunchback pays close attention to the procedure? The grapevine has it that many judges are boiling with rage over what Anas did to their compatriots.
Then you, the lawyer who led the charge against them, by defending the Anas Principle, come before them to seek justice? What you get is vengeance. After all, are they not human?
From the foregoing, it is clear that the President knows what he was talking about when he stated with so much conviction that, “I am confident, like you, that, at the end of the day, your integrity, whilst in office, will be fully established.”
I, therefore, felt vindicated when the Special Prosecutor mentioned the Cecilia Dapaah case as one of those whose outcome, he suspects the judiciary have ganged up against him over.
Hear him “…In the third instance, the OSP applied to the High Court for a confirmation of a seizure order and a freezing order in respect of a person who had just resigned from a ministerial position and had reported that large cash sums in foreign denominations had been stolen from her residence. In addition, the OSP subsequently discovered additional large cash sums in foreign denominations and cedis still stashed in her residence.
The judge hastily dismissed the OSP’s application and ordered a return of the seized amounts and the defreezing of her property and he proceeded to lash out at the OSP for not doing a thorough investigation – without the slightest consideration that the seizure and freezing orders are designed by law to facilitate investigation into the affairs of suspects.
The judge also completely ignored the fact that in almost every jurisdiction, including Ghana, it is extremely unusual and highly suspicious for a public officer to have such large cash sums stashed in their homes. The judge was only interested in a return of the money to the person of interest and nothing more and he proceeded to erect non-existent legal barriers to prevent the OSP from investigating the matter.”
While I have no basis to believe your assertion that, “there appears to be a developing trend of rather regressive and dismissive judicial decisions in respect of cases involving the OSP,” besides the logical deductions above, I can say without blinking an eye, that although the tenets of Rule of Law prescribe equality before the law, there are some people who are not equal before the law. You should know this by now.
Mr Domelevo, who I referred to as a victim of an attempt to prosecute a ‘presidential friend’ has said in reaction to your lamentation that you should not give up because, “when you fight corruption, corruption fights back.”
I cannot help but say, Kissi Agyebeng the lonely eagle, I told you so!
What is left is whether my gut feeling regarding your resignation will also come to pass soon. That’s because I can imagine that the situation is becoming unbearable. Hence, your resort to the lyrics of Daddy Lumba’s song- ‘I am doing what I can, I will leave when my tenure is over.’
Maybe it is time to do this, “then I’ll say the republic should take its job.”
More so, when the number 3 most important person in the republic has said that the setting up of your outfit was “an act in futility.”
Sayōnara- That’s goodbye in Japanese.
Let God lead! Follow Him directly, not through any human.
