"CHOPPING GHANA SMALL PART 4 : "YE TONKO - NA ENSO YENDAYE!"

Ghanaians are funny people sometimes. Like everything else in our society, Justice Henrietta Abban's judgement, has become yet another nine-day wonder (and a cause celebre), to be savoured, by those addicted to the game of political football.

And so today, decent and fair-minded people, are having to look on, as legions of (legal) ignoramuses, who apparently do not fear to tread, where even angels fear to tread, crucify the poor woman. However, like everything else in Ghana today, this too, shall pass!

Fact is, no matter which way the verdict had gone, in this unfair nation, she would still have been crucified by many - in a country full of tiresome individuals, whose favourite tune, is : "My-party-my-tribe-right-or-wrong!"

I shall leave the legal arguments to those who are au fait with matters to do with the arcane subject of law.

But let those who would vilify her, rather ponder, if perhaps Mrs. Justice Abban is not a genius at spotting self-serving and self-interested evidence, when she comes across one - even from prosecution witnesses.

Could it be, perhaps (if the bush telegraph is to be believed), that there are some in the judiciary today, who know the goings on that occurred in the 1970's, at the so-called Kwame Nkrumah flats - and consequently, know clearly where the true loyalties and sympathies of some of the witnesses in the case lies (that make them biased and unreliable witnesses)?

Well, apparently (according to the bush telegraph!), there were two apartments at the so-called Kwame Nkrumah flats at Latebiokorshie, where two Americans, one a soap manufacturer in Lome, and the other the superintendent of the American Lincoln community school, lived.

Of course it may all be nothing but pure nonsense on bamboo stilts, but it is a fact that some homosexual white men in Accra at that material time, did in fact prey on young half-caste males, in the 1970's.

It is also a known fact that two flats at the aforementioned location, were frequented by many young half-caste males. And many serving in our secret services then, will confirm that!

They will also confirm that the two flats were rented by a Mr. R. Cope and a Mr. J. Wilson, both of whom the secret services alleged, were gay men.

And amongst those alleged to have been frequenting their apartments at the time, was a handsome and dashing young military officer (a very dear friend to both men, apparently!), who went on to become a Ghanaian head of state.

Let those making so much noise and who are questioning the integrity of Justice Henrietta Abban, understand that there are many things that many people in Ghana don't know about - but are known nonetheless, by some in our nation.

Those making so much noise about prosecution witnesses, must pause awhile - and ponder at the many imponderables in this case. There may be more to this matter than meets the eye! Hmm, Ghana - ayeasem oo!

Well, although at a certain stage, I loathed him, I think Tsatsu Tsikata is the one person who Ghana does owe a lot to, indeed.

And amongst all those who rode on the coattails of Flt Lt Rawlings: and consequently were able to live the life of Riley - a lifestyle that indeed, our former leader himself, in the end, also came to enjoy (replete with a lakeside river-front holiday home built on stilts - and children in overseas universities!); Tsatsu Tsikata, perhaps is the least deserving of such an ignominious fate.

There are many decent and fair-minded Ghanaians, who feel that Tsatsu does not deserve to go to jail, on a mere technicality of the law.

Yes, it is true that by the end of the Rawlings era, most of the members of their regime had morphed into hypocritical ex-revolutionaries - whose cushy sinecures, as pampered rulers of our country, were bankrolled by a bankrupt Ghanaian nation-state.

But as we have all stood by in amazement, and watched the astronomical rate at which the personal net worth of many in the present crowd of hypocrites, has also sky-rocketed, well, it is safe to say that as sure as night follows day, we shall also see a lot of once-important men and women, who forgot that wise Ghanaian saying: "No condition is permanent" (and thought they were invincible!), being escorted to prison at Nsawam, for various reckless acts of causing financial loss, to the Ghanaian nation-state. Hmm, Ghana - asem ebaba debi!

But we must also not forget the disgraceful profligacy of the past. Flt Lt Rawlings had a large army of spongers: countless never-do-wells and brutish myrmidons,who helped milk Ghana dry.

Some even left huge telephone bills at the seat of government in Ghana, the Osu Castle. And shocking invoices from a "posh-people's-photo-club" running into zillions, used to be sent to the same Osu Castle on account of that era's own hypocrite-in-chief - for the hapless Ghanaian taxpayer to pick up.

And no doubt, in the coming years, when our present hypocrite-in-chief finally does depart from office, we shall also hear similar noises from the same "My-party-my-tribe-right-or-wrong" crowd - and over the self-same issues!

And independent-minded Ghanaians will shed no tears for either side - for they have all done their fair share of "chopping Ghana small" - at the expense of ordinary people and mother Ghana.

Why, do they think we do not know why ordinary people point out to Zoomlion trucks whenever they pass by - and remark that they are today's equivalent of yesteryear's J. Stanley Owusu & Co. (the waste-collection and construction industries' behemoth of the Rawlings era)?

Our political class must understand that ordinary Ghanaians are not fools: "Ye tonko - na enso yendaye!" Period. May God bless and protect our homeland Ghana, always. Long live freedom! Long live Ghana!