Let
me invite the Hon Member for North
Tongu to make his contribution.
Mr Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa
(NDC ⸺ North Tongu): I am very grateful, Mr Speaker, for the
opportunity to contribute to this
Statement, which has been very
eloquently delivered by my respected
Colleague, Mr Samuel Atta Akyea.
Mr Speaker, this has become an
annual reminder that the Hon
Member takes this House through. I
recalled that last year, he focused on
Dr J. B. Danquah's literary prowess. This year, he has focused on Dr J. B.
Danquah, the legal luminary and
scholar.
He has provided a very rich throve
of research which would guide all of
us as we pay attention to the history
of our country to how our
constitutional jurisprudence has
developed over the decades and most
importantly, in my view, the lessons
which ought to guide us in the
conduct of national politics and the
fall out thereof.
Mr Speaker, the Hon Member has
spent considerable time on the
Preventive Detention Act (PDA),
which led to the imprisonment of
Ghanaians which he has provided on
page 2 of his Statement including the
likes of Baffour Osei Akoto, Peter
Alex Danso, alias Kwaku Danso,
Osei Assibey Mensah, Nana Antwi
Boasiako, alias John Mensah, Joseph
Kojo Antwi-Kusi, Benjamin Kweku
Owusu, Andrew Kojo Adusei and
Halidu Kramo.
Mr Speaker, since Statements
must not generate debate, I am well-
guided to ensure that my
contributions do not generate debate
because of the ideological differences
that we share. I remain an avowed
Nkrumaist. Osagyefo Dr Kwame
Nkrumah is my idol; I would defend
him and stand by him at all times. But
as I have had the occasion to say in
this House, when we celebrate our
idols, our mentors and those we
consider icons, we should do that,
bearing in mind that they were also
humans like we are.
Being human, great personalities
they were or are but we should be
bold to consider objectively, if there
were some steps they took that
probably with hindsight could have
been done better. So, it is that context
which I would ask that all of us on
both Sides of the ideological divide
⸺ there is the tendency to lose objectivity when we come to
consider the icons of our ideological
persuasions.
We do not see anything wrong or
deficient of our idols and icons as
though they were not human. I think
that both Sides of the ideological
divide really need to ponder over that
attitude. I do not think that moving
forward, it would build our country,
especially as we seek national
cohesion; national unity and to really
bond and build a society where we
are truly united and do not allow
political, ethnic and other differences
to divide us needlessly.
Mr Speaker, having said that, I
believe that I must bring to bear this
Statement what I would consider a
contextual omission, and I know that
my good brother, being the respected
intellectual as he is, would welcome
this addition I seek to make. Context
is important. Those who have read
about this law, it is important to
remind all of us that The Preventive
Detention Act was not really a new
law. The colonialist had used it. It
was widely used even in India. So, it
was just a rehash of a colonial relic.
The National Assembly in 1958
debated and passed the PDA. The
context is that at that time, the politics
was too violent. There was a lot of
bombings. There were many human
right violations. Osagyfo Dr Kwame
Nkrumah himself had escaped
narrowly from his office at
Odododiodioo. There was the Accra
Stadium bombing; the Kulungugu
bombing ⸺ So, I am surprised that the Statement did not bring to bear
what led Osagyefo Dr Kwame
Nkrumah to consider this law. It is
because of the violence that was
happening at that era and context is
important.
Mr Speaker, it is this same
context, after the 9-11 terrorism
attack, that led the United States of
America, a citadel of democracy ⸺ we must want to call them trailblazers
when it comes to respect for human
rights ⸺ even the United States of America, after the 9-11 attack, they
said no; this calls for extreme
measures. So, they passed a law and
people could then be arrested without
trial and sent to that Cuban island
called Guantanamo Bay. This is the
USA.
Of course, many years after 9-11,
people like former President Obama
thought better of it and said no, they
went to the extremes. They were
caught up in that era after 9-11 attack;
the hundreds of deaths and the
destruction of the World Trade
Organisation (WTO), other property
such as the Pentagon and the
businesses that were destroyed. They
were so outraged, so they passed the
law, but with hindsight, it is not
befitting of a country with the kind of
human rights reputation that they
have. So, the USA had to claw back,
and they are rethinking.
Mr Speaker, I would come back to
the fundamental point on that context
⸺ let us not leave out the context. So, to be fair to Dr Kwame Nkrumah and
his era, it was because of all the
violence and all the things that were
going on during that era. I would
encourage those interested in
research to also look at the case of the
father of Jake Obetsebi Lamptey ⸺ his trial in which our current
President's father, Sir Edward Akufo-Addo, Justice Van Lare, and
Sir Arko Korsah ⸺ [Interruption] ⸺ Yes, Sarkodie Addo.
That trial is most revealing and it
captures the level of violence ⸺ the terrorism, the petrol bombs, and all of
what went on in that era. People stood
indicted ⸺ When we read that judgement — Mr Speaker, the irony is that those who used this as one of
the bases to overthrow Dr Kwame
Nkrumah on 24th February, 1966, not
long after, they then also passed the
Protective Custody Decree (PCD) ⸺ the National Redemption Council
(NRC) brought the PCD, which was
just another version of the PDA. It
was the twin brother as Hon
Dafeamekpor would say. So, Mr
Speaker, context is important.
It is also interesting that only this
morning, I was reading some court
documents that have been filed in our
Supreme Court and the plaintiffs are
notable Ghanaians: Professor
Kwadwo Appiagyei-Atua, a lecturer
at the University of Ghana Law
School, Dr Sena Dei Tutu, Felicity
Nelson, Benjamin Darko, Sampson
Laadi Anyenini, Golda Addo, the
Democracy Hub LBG, and
Democratic Accountability Lab
LBG. They have gone to the Supreme
Court saying that the law that the 7th
Parliament passed, the Imposition of
Restriction Act, 2020 (Act 1012),
violates fundamental human rights,
and it is in breach of the Constitution,
so they want a declaration.
Again, context, all of us at the
time were scared about the
consequences of COVID-19. We saw
how people were dying in other
jurisdictions, and we thought that we
should enhance the powers of the
Executive, so they could lock down
the country and curtail rights. But
today after many months, people
have gone to the Supreme Court. I
wonder what the verdict would be in
future about this President of this era,
and what people will say about him if
the context is not considered.
We all know the United Nations
High Commissioner for Human
Rights, the respected Michelle
Bachelet, has issued a number of
reports that during COVID-19
response by governments, their
assessment in several countries
confirmed that fundamental human
rights have been violated, and that the
pandemic has not only affected health
and economies, but it has also
affected human rights.
Mr Speaker, we need to be careful
if we do not bring up the context in
these Statements we make because
the casualty levels ⸺ people died, people were maimed ⸺ I grew up with a woman in Dansoman who had
one leg because of the bombings of
that era. We see them and know of
such stories. Dr Tony Addo, who was
in the Ashanti Region, recounts a lot
of petrol bombings that took place - the Mate me ho Movement and all the
things that happened. This was a
response to try to curtail the violence
of that era.
Mr Speaker, I am interested in the
lessons. In our politics, we should do
well to eschew violence. We are
seeing some of it — the vigilantes
and all kinds of “macho” groups. We should not return to the kind of
violent politics that happened during
the pre-independence era, because if
things get out of hand, then
Parliament may come up with laws
like this. Dr Kwame Nkrumah is
blamed, but it was a national
assembly law: a law of the Parliament
of Ghana. So, when we pass our laws
in this Parliament, should President
Akufo-Addo be blamed for these
laws? I think that we need to be more
nuanced even as we accept that there
were excesses on all sides of the
political divide.
Mr Speaker, as I conclude, I
would want to extend sincere
condolences. I am one of those
people who are saddened that Dr J. B.
Danquah died in prison. I wish that
all the great minds of that era would
have come together and united to
fight the colonialist. The real enemy
of that era was not the Convention
People's Party (CPP) or the United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC); it
was the colonialist, the exploiters, the
raiders, and the rapists who had come
to undermine our freedoms and to
take what did not belong to them.
Unfortunately, we could not unite
to really deal with them. We allowed
petty differences “Independence now”, “Independence in the shortest possible time”, “Do not hand over
now”: Give us independence later” — petty differences. I think we should learn lessons and hope that we
would become more democratic as
we grow, more united, and we should
learn from these things that people
have sacrificed and some had to lay
down their lives. So, we should not
do anything that will derail our
democracy. May we always learn
from the context and eschew
violence, extreme acrimony, and
animosity from our politics.
Mr Speaker, I commend the Hon
Member who made the Statement.
