How different is the Short commission from others?

The Justice Short Commission

When Ghanaian leaders are overwhelmed by scandals, they often set up Commissions of Inquiry to get to the root of how and why such problems occurred. If it is otherwise possible, they will divert attention from it.

Most of the time when these commissions finish their work, their report(s) are kept in the office of the President with little to no implementation. And often when they implement the recommendations of the so-called White Paper, it is to cover their appointees.

Now let’s get some legal education here;

Article 278 of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana gives the President of Ghana the authority by Constitutional Instrument (CI) to appoint a Commission of Inquiry into any matter of public interest where
“(a) the President is satisfied that a commission of inquiry should be appointed; or (b) the Council of State advises that it is in the public interest to do so; or (c) Parliament, by a resolution requests that a commission of inquiry be appointed to inquire into any matter, specified in the resolution as being a matter of public importance.”

The constitution further breaks down the number of people which should constitute such a commission and the criteria for appointing commissioner(s) of such a commission in Article 278 (2) & (3) respectively. 

According to the constitution in Article 279, such commission(s) shall have the powers, rights and privileges of the High Court or a Justice of the High Court at a trial, in respect of “(a) enforcing the attendance of witnesses and examining them on oath, affirmation or otherwise; (b) compelling the production of documents; and (c) the issue of a commission or request to examine witnesses abroad.”

Another mandate of the commission of inquiry given by the constitution in Article 280 (1) states: “A commission of inquiry shall (a) make a full, faithful and impartial inquiry into any matter specified in the instrument of appointment; (b) report in writing the result of the inquiry; and (c) furnish in the report the reasons leading to the conclusions stated in the report”.

It further reads in Article 280 (2): “Where a commission of inquiry makes an adverse finding against any person, the report of the commission of inquiry shall, for the purposes of this Constitution, be deemed to be the judgment of the High Court; and accordingly, an appeal shall lie as of right from the finding of the commission to the Court of Appeal.”

The constitution then insists that the President of the republic publishes the report of the commission together with the White Paper on it within six months after the date of the submission of the report by the commission.

But Article 280 (4) gives the President an option. It states: “Where the report of a commission of inquiry is not to be published, the President shall issue a statement to that effect giving reasons why the report is not to be published.” 

But do we see this happening?

Many Ghanaians, when they hear of a commission of inquiry, believe it becomes one of those commissions where after their work, the government instead of punishing those involved, decides to ‘hide’ them in his ‘cubicle’. 

A clear case in point is the 2014 FIFA World Cup debacle where the government of Ghana set up a commission of inquiry to dissect the unpleasant details of the World Cup. 

There were arguments that the government of Ghana had no right to investigate the Ghana Football Association (GFA) with respect to FIFA’s statutes. Article 17 (1) of the statues states: "Each member shall manage its affairs independently and with no influence from third parties”.

But looking at the laws enshrined in Article 278 of the 1992 constitution, Some people argued that the government of Ghana has the right to investigate the GFA, especially with regard to financial matters since the government assists the football governing body financially. 

After the work of the Dzamefe Commission of Inquiry, little or nothing was done to those who were found guilty. Those who were ministers of state were rather reassigned to the office of the president and it ended there. 

Will this happen with the Short Commission? Many are of the view that whatsoever happened under the Dzamefe Commission will as well happen under the Short Commission. 

After the Ayawaso West Wuogon by-election, the Short Commission was set up by the government of Ghana to unravel the shooting incident at La Bawaleshie, a polling station within the Ayawaso West Wuogon constituency. 

Indeed many of us viewing the live proceedings of this commission on TV have been astonished at some of the testimonies made by key witnesses of this commission. 

Most witnesses believe that the actions of vigilantes or militias or thugs or community-based groups or whatever names you deem fit to give to such party foot-soldiers should be stopped before it gets out of hand in 2020. 

Yes, something needs to be done to stop such thugs calling themselves vigilantes or militias or whatever because the La Bawaleshie incident clearly shows that these guys could be more deadly in 2020. These guys can kill in the name of helping either the NPP or the NDC to climb to the apex position of the land. 

I don't want to believe that none of Nana Akufo-Addo's appointees if implicated by this commission will be promoted or covered like was done in the past by other Presidents of this country. 

Mr President, please remember to implement whatever recommendations by this commission through its report else posterity will not forgive you.

I shall return!


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Twitter: @ekowrites 

An 'irresponsible hypocrite' like John

John Dramani Mahama

I am an angry person.

Yes, I am and I guess you want to know why? 

First of all let me apologize if you find my headline offensive, but I cannot say it better than that. I want to be frank and call a spade by its correct name and not what it looks like. 

The violence which occurred during the by-election at Ayawaso West Wougon is something that all Ghanaians must condemn.

Indeed as Ghanaians, we pride ourselves in being peaceful. 

We recently celebrated the success of the 4th republic with a holiday known as Constitution Day. 

Under the 4th Republic, we have successfully changed governments from NDC to NPP and from NPP to NDC and back to NPP.

In fact, these two political parties have made this nation seem as if she is a two-party state. 

As Ghanaians, we were taught that we should put our country first regardless of our ethnicity, religion or political ideology. 

In fact, we will struggle to defend ourselves and exit without the Red, Gold, Green with a Black Star in the middle. 

Indeed living up to our 'peaceful' credential, we have ensured that Dagbon, hitherto a conflict zone, is now peaceful; both gates have settled on Ya-Na Abubakari Yakubu II as their overlord. 

Why on earth will a leader claiming to lead his political party to victory and eventually lead Ghana take solace in the dark past that his political party put the country into? 

John Dramani Mahama interacting with his party folks in Adaklu Constituency said, “We are not going to joke in 2020 and I’m sounding a warning to the NPP – we are going to match them boot for boot.”

You’ll meet who 'boot-for-boot'? 

With your kids or with the kids of hungry broke Ghanaians?

Politicians of this country are taking the ordinary citizen who has given them power for a ride. 

We groom criminals and label them vigilante. 

What work at all do these criminals do for the political parties and their chosen idols?

It is very interesting to note that the children of these politicians are not members of these vigilantes. 

Are the children of these politicians not good enough to be vigilante; the essential process that will employ their parents to receive ex-gratia every 4-years?

Ghanaians, we need to show these politicians the red light. We need to point out to them that they will one day put our nation into chaos. 

As a sovereign nation governed by laws, we need to ensure that nobody is or should be above the laws.

We need to let these politicians face the music squarely when they go against the law.

Let’s stop this hypocrisy! 

Ghana belongs to all of us!!

Let us show irresponsible politicians the red card!!!



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