WHO JUDGES THE JUDGES?

            “All rise,” the bailiff said as the judge and his entourage stormed the courtroom.

            The judge took his seat and we followed suit. He struggled with himself in his seat until he settled on a posture that deemed comfortable to him. He raised his round-rimmed spectacles slightly and scanned the faces of all who were present in the courtroom. Within the split-second that his eyes met mine, something told me not to trust his judgment. Maybe he had been bribed to judge the case against me and my brokeself. But how could I prove that? People referred to him as my Lord. When I’m called to give my side of the story, I would have to address him by that too. Was he really a Lord? Lords are not portly. Lords do not have foreheads that as big as this Judge’s. On a more serious note, Lords are just, without (political) compromise, and discharge their duty without fear or favor. They should be content with their (obviously good) salaries and the statuses they’ve ascended to…

In the past couple of years, Ghana has been known for five things; erratic power supply, bloated voters’ register, NPP’s unending leadership rifts, love for Dede Ayew, and corruption (because of the continent she finds herself in). Anytime I hear stuff about corruption in Africa, the first country that comes to mind is Nigeria. I once read about Obi Okonkwo, who at the start was high above being corrupt until financial issues finally gravitated him down to the level where most people, who once touched the ground, their tongues and then pointed those same fingers at heaven to swear they would never take bribes, find themselves. Nigeria’s president, declared his assets even to the last chicken he owned; an action that shows his readiness to purge corruption out of his government, and so far, has his anti-corruption campaign utterly on track. When I think about the executive arm of (every) government, I don’t need the soothsayer at Nogokpo to tell me that it is the most corrupt. This is because, apart from the president, almost everybody else makes his way there through appointment. It is a long chain of appointments, and in most cases, a brown envelope is needed to boost one’s appointment.

Recently, ace investigative journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas (who is so anonymous that Wikipedia doesn’t know his birthday) revealed that, a group (of Lords), that is supposed to be the epitome of justice, is more corrupt than China has rice. I now understand how a goat thief could get a ten to twenty year jail term. He stole a goat; not a human being. Not like he was even allowed to enjoy the meat before he began his sentence. Yet, all along, the real thieves are (some of) the My Lords, his ‘eggcellencies’ etc. When I remember the concept of Independence of the Judiciary, I imagined judges to be if not perfect, then close to perfect people. I saw them as untouchable entities, and just beings who swore to distribute justice fairly. Little did I know that that justice had a price that could be afforded by some folks.

A corrupt judge is like a priest who chastises his male congregation for looking lustfully at women, yet at night, wakes up from the side of his wife and goes to meet a lover somewhere. Did anybody else notice how Judge Dery sued Anas and the management of Conference Center? And would subsequently sue all pen drive sellers, pen driver owners, ECG (for supplying electricity to the Conference Center to premiere the video)? An unjust judge searching for justice… Just as sextapes are gleefully copacetic, so shall the videos be received, analyzed and distributed. When I realized how not-so-sensible some verdicts can be in this country, it makes me not want to get into any trouble with the law. Can you imagine the number of people wrongfully dwelling in our very uncomfortable prisons?

So then, who judges the judges? While a major section of society erupted with the joy of Anas’ findings, it is clear that only Anas can judge the judge. However, let every man be an Anas, and see others as ‘Anases’; the society would unanimously be void of injustice. Let everyman judge his own actions and give to others what they expect in return. When this happens, everybody gets an equal distribution of justice. If you judge the consequences of your thoughts before they become actions, you would be able to do what is right and widely accepted. We wouldn’t need any Anas to be spying on who’s doing right and who isn’t. Dear Anas, come to KNUST sometime. You will be shocked at how future leaders litter the campus with pure water sachet rubbers.
Be your own judge people!

-         Tony Afuti Eyram,

KNUST.