I have had cause to ask if Ghana was a failed State. This was when a regional minister was applauded by some for his unconstitutional and criminal conduct in supervising the violation of the dignity of citizens by making them squat and sweep dusty streets and flogging some publicly for failing to use a footbridge.

The law prescribing punishment, upon prosecution in a court, for that offence was completely abandoned as officials turned themselves into police and court.

This week, National Security Minister, Albert Kan-Dapaah told judges that when justice delivery is seen to be ineffective or tainted, the security of the State is in serious danger. “If the interpretation of the law is so much tilted in our favour [he means the NPP government?] all the time, people will start accusing the judiciary and will not have the confidence that they need.”

This month has seen some headlines about the Right to Information Act 2019, Act 989 in Ghana. Two weeks ago, the Information Minister was in Parliament bemoaning how only 224 RTI requests have been made since the law became operational in 2020.

I don’t know Justice Abdulai enough to vouch for him. But I felt hurt when the NPP labelled him as NDC in an attempt to question his motive for taking up a suit whose outcome they celebrate – a Deputy Speaker can be counted to form quorum and vote to decide matters in Parliament.

Samson’s Take: Stop criminalising poverty

It is the law in Ghana that vagrancy is a crime. Yes, the kind where the person is jobless, begs in the name of selling handkerchiefs in town; the person is also homeless sleeps rough just anywhere in town. Yes, that makes a criminal who must be flogged by guards or police taking instructions from a mayor.

It is only in a sick country where grand corruption is normalised that people caught stealing are free to walk the streets and possibly dissipate the stolen money or conceal it over a year after they were caught.

In August 2019, a journalist, not the Police, National Security, BNI (now NIB) or EOCO equipped and paid by the state, caught a big thief. The Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) and the Office of Special Prosecutor (OSP) quickly started a probe on the back of Manasseh Azure Awuni’s “Contracts for sale” investigative piece aired on JoyNews.