Testing The Law

The Gyan brothers triggered the law on assault and battery last weekend when one of them assaulted a journalist over a question he posed to the national soccer team captain, Asamoah Gyan.

The Ashanti Regional Police Commander, DCOP Kofi Boakye, had to prove to his compatriots whether or not some persons are above the law and so can breach it in any way they want and go scot-free, when he did what was required of him.

Unless proven otherwise, he appears to have convinced us so far that he would apply the law without fear or favour, and if we may add, no matter whose ox is gored.

We wait to see whether the complainant would want to see the case prosecuted or decide otherwise by pulling the brakes on it. It would be interesting to see how the case plays out, especially against the backdrop of Kofi Boakye’s reference to the law regarding assault and battery when he said that under the circumstances, only the complainant can ask for the cessation of the case through a written application to that effect.

While we are not in a position to counsel the complainant to push for a prosecution of the case or otherwise, it is our wish though that the law is allowed to take its full course, especially since that would send an important moral lesson to other Ghanaians about being law-abiding and being above all, civil.

It is important too that we do not consider our statuses in society as a licence to misbehave as Baffour Gyan did under the full glare of others.

His conduct was not only crude and unnecessary, but it also cast a slur on the aggressor and unfortunately, his whole family. Little wonder many who heard what happened could not help expressing disgust. We too associate ourselves with this position and point out that nobody is more important than others in society.

Each Ghanaian has a role to play in moving the country forward. We deem it reprehensible therefore that somebody – as in the case of Baffour Gyan – would descend upon another person simply because his brother is the national soccer team captain.

Those who are associated with the nation’s image or even spirit – as in the case of a national soccer team – must exhibit a high sense of responsibility and reasonableness. We are of the view that Asamoah Gyan should have restrained his brother from doing what he did.

Let nobody intervene in the nonsense. Celebrities and their brothers are not above the law.

If we were to place so-called celebrities above the law, society would have been infected by selective application of the law. This way, we would have inched towards the animal kingdom.

Very importantly, these celebrities must bear in mind also that it is the media (journalists) on whose backs they rose to fame – some of them from rags. Assaulting them (journalists) therefore for reasons that are untenable is unfortunate and smacks of ungratefulness.