Only the so-called cadres, who it would appear have no genuine regrets over the travesty of justice which took place under the junta of Rawlings, see no evil about the tribunal system.
We find it difficult to think that President Mahama would want to evoke memories of the dark days of our recent history by re-enacting the tribunal system.
Voices of reason have spoken and continue to do about the repercussions of the return of the kangaroo court system which Ghana lived with in those bloody days of the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC).
Although those who lost their lives following the unjust decisions of the tribunal courts of the years in reference are no more, their relatives have lived long enough to witness an attempt to relive those murderous days. These survivors will always remember the trauma they went through when their loved ones were summoned before the kangaroo courts.
The ‘Colonel Bogey’ martial music signal tune preceding announcements during the junta period sounded ominous. This was followed by an announcement that ‘so and so’ persons should report at Gondar Barracks. ‘Talking back’ was not allowed let alone the engagement of lawyers to speak on behalf of the accused. This is what lovers of the system want the country to embrace, but they are few and we outnumber them.
Here is to endorse the call by Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia to the President not to sign the Tribunals Bill, which to all intent and purposes was hurried through the legislative process.
Unless the thinking of most Ghanaians is wrong, the President and his government intend to expedite politically motivated cases, by sidestepping the traditional court system and the technicalities embedded in it to ensure fair trial and strict adherence to the rule of law, no more no less and reintroducing the tribunals.
The excuse that the tribunals are intended to address the shortage of courts does not make sense when the physical provision of infrastructure is what is being referred to. The tribunal system cannot be an answer to this challenge when construction of court houses is the solution.
The previous government, while appreciating the problem, proceeded with the provision of 120 court houses across the country.
This government does not see the foregone as the antidote to this challenge and would rather the memories of the murderous days of our chequered history are re-enacted.
This is not the time not to listen to the worries of Ghanaians who understand what it means to reintroduce the tribunal system in our justice administration.
Those who suffered humiliation or had their mothers do, when the ‘ɛyɛ kania, ɛyɛ hain’ refrain played out in the country know the fallouts of a tribunal system.
We cannot have this obnoxious system reshape our justice administration in the country.
Let us reflect on our historical antecedents and act accordingly. Although many think that President John Mahama, obsessed with passing the bill could ignore the lamentations of Ghanaians and append his signature, perhaps he could change his mind and do the needful.
This is the time that the Council of State’s intervention is required. Let them advise the President truthfully with the love of the nation’s interest guiding them as they do so. Pleasing the President is immaterial at this stage when the country is on the verge of being plunged into a judicial doom.
