Kodwo Baidoo responds to Elizabeth Ohene’s “Maybe I Was Just Innocent” claim

Elizabeth Ohene’s recent piece attempts to draw a contrast between an event in 1979 and the recent search of former Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta’s home. However, her selective retelling of history and insinuations about Ghana’s current state are both misleading and intellectually dishonest to me.

Reading her piece and listening carefully to commentaries on the search of the former finance minister’s home, there’s a prominent suggestion of convenient amnesia and historical whitewashing.

It is curious that the author, Elizabeth Akua Ohene, a long-time ally and an appointee of the former president who presided over one of the worst economic crises in Ghana’s history, is now suddenly concerned about due process and democratic values. Under President Akufo-Addo’s administration, where she served as a Board Chair of SSNIT, the country suffered unprecedented financial mismanagement, rampant corruption, and systemic breaches of justice.

Where was her voice when billions of cedis were lost to scandals like the SADA, GYEEDA, and the infamous DKM financial scam that left thousands of Ghanaians impoverished? Where was her pen and writing pad when respectable statemen like Prof. Frimpong Boateng was mocked and ridiculed by some NPP political communicators just because the learned professor shed light on some galamsey discoveries??

She nostalgically recalls 1979, a period of military rule and instability, as if it were an era of superior governance. This, I think, is an insult to the many Ghanaians who suffered under the brutalities of that period. She implies that even under a military regime, the law was respected, yet conveniently ignores the executions, arbitrary arrests, and suppression of dissent that characterized that time.

Madam Ohene’s attempts to equate the recent search at Ken Ofori-Atta’s residence with the events of 1979, is a deliberate false comparison because the circumstances are vastly different.

Ghana today operates under a constitutional democracy, with legal procedures and mechanisms to address corruption and accountability. If law enforcement officers conducted a search at the former Finance Minister’s residence was illegal, persons concerned or affected can seek redress in court. It is a common knowledge that if the officers acted outside their legal mandates, there are appropriate legal remedies for the affected party to seek redress in court.

The real issue here is not about the sanctity of justice but about selective outrage. Madam Elizabeth Ohene and some of her associates were silent when, under the erstwhile NPP government, some opposition figures were harassed, journalists were attacked, and political opponents faced politically motivated arrests. Today, when the rule of law is applied equally, suddenly she finds her voice. If the ruling class decides to govern this nation with the sticks and measures left by the Akuffo-Addo government, Ghana can not go up from where we are now.

Unlike the past, where power was seized through military takeovers, today’s Ghana has mechanisms to ensure accountability. No official, regardless of status, should be above scrutiny. The days of shielding powerful individuals from accountability because of their connections must be left in the past. Her deafening silence on the similar things that happened in the administration she was part of clearly shows that she only finds her voice and pen to write when it is NDC in government.

I’m hearing from some commentators that some NDC members suffered similar raids in 2017 but my search for her article condemning it back then has proven futile. If she was balanced in that regards, I would better appreciated her suggestive objectivity.

If the Hon. Elizabeth Ohene wants to discuss the state of the nation, let’s talk about the economic devastation left by the government she supported. Let’s talk about the record-breaking debt, the collapse of businesses due to reckless financial policies, and the hardships ordinary Ghanaians continue to endure because of poor governance.

Elizabeth Ohene’s article is not an objective reflection of history but a thinly veiled attempt to manipulate public sentiment. It is disingenuous for her to pretend to be a guardian of justice and democracy when she remained silent during the injustices of the past. Ghana’s democracy is not perfect, but selective outrage will not rewrite history. Instead of lamenting about imagined declines, she should acknowledge the role her own allies played in weakening our institutions and economic stability.

By Al-Hassan Kodwo Baidoo

The writer is a social commentator