Manasseh’s Folder: Kenny Rogers, Yoni Kulendi and our MPs

Yoni Kulendi (Right) and Prof. Alex Dodoo at Parliament’s Privileges Committee. Photo credit: Kobby Blay

There is something inexplicably intriguing about wise men and women. Even when you disagree with them, it is difficult to disregard what they are saying. In effect, you are left in an awkward fix – a state of confusion in where you stand. That was how I felt after listening to Mr. Yoni Kulendi, one of the wise Ghanaians I respect so much.

About three weekends ago, I listened to Joy FM and Multi TV’s Newsfile programme with my future wife. Our position was the same when the host, Samson Lardy Anyenini, introduced the issue about the appearance of Professor Alex Dodoo at the Privileges Committee of Parliament. Prof. Dodoo is an associate professor of clinical pharmacology at the University of Ghana School of Medicine and Chair of the World Health Organization’s Collaborating Centre for Pharmaco-Vigilance. We   thought the professor should not have apologised to parliament.

Professor Dodoo was alleged to have said that some members of parliament (MPs) who commented on the ebola vaccine trial in the Volta Region were uninformed about the issues and that their arguments were born out of ignorance. They should, therefore, shut up if they did not know the facts.

The Privileges Committee of Parliament considered this an insult and summoned him to a two-day hearing. Other institutions and persons related to the ebola trial in Ghana were invited. Host of Joy FM’s Super Morning Show, Kojo Yankson, on whose show Prof. Dodoo made those comments, was also invited.

Prof. Alex Dodoo appeared at the Committee with his lawyer, Yoni Kulendi, one of the finest legal brains in Ghana. Many Ghanaians were outraged about the invitation because they thought some of the comments made by the MPs on the ebola vaccine trial were truly out of sheer ignorance, and since it was a technical area, it was not out of place for the professor to describe them as such. Some asked when the word “ignorance” had become an insult for which the MPs were fuming furiously.

Many therefore expected Prof. Dodoo and his legal dribbler to, for once, call the bluff of the MPs and tell them what was on the minds of many Ghanaians. To their utter disappointment, however, both Professor Dodoo and Yoni Kulendi apologised profusely.

Almost all the panelists on Newsfile that day when the issue was being discussed were not happy Prof. Dodoo had gone to apologise when he had a good reason to call the MPs to order. I agreed with them. And so  did my fianceé.

When Yoni Kulendi was called to contribute to the programme, the host asked him how he felt about the disappointment that greeted the appearance of he and his client at the Privileges Committee of Parliament. To disappoint further, Mr. Kulendi again apologised to the MPs before he went ahead to make his submission:

“In this discourse with you if I said something to which you take offence, no mater how right I feel, I think the most civil, reasonable, and wise thing to do, if you take exception to a statement I make and express a sense of offence it, is for me to say, Samson, I did not mean to offend you but to the extent that you are offended, I am sorry. I withdraw what I have said,” he said.

“That is how we are cultured. Those are our social values. Those are our Christian and cultural imperatives. It is not Ghanaian for me to say you are offended and so what? and repeat the offence and head for a head-on collusion with you. We will not do that. We will not tread on that path to impress those who were spoiling for a fight with parliament.”

By the time Yoni Kulendi finished his submission, my fiancée had converted and changed her position. I was faced with the difficulty of accepting the soft-spoken lawyer’s pearls of wisdom and disagreeing with the position he and his client had taken.

Even though I fully subscribe to the ideals and values he was projecting, I think Yoni Kulendi and his client had a very good case and could have written their own version of Kenny Rogers’ classical country music song: Coward of the County. It is a story I love so much and would not want to paraphrase it. If your singing voice is as good as mine, and you know the tune, sing along. If it is as horrible as that of Kwami Sefa-Kayi of Peace FM, however, then read the words below:

Everyone considered him the coward of the county

He’d never stood one single time to prove the county wrong.

His mama named him Tommy, but folks just called him yellow,

Something always told me they were reading Tommy wrong.

He was only ten years old when his daddy died in prison;

I took care of Tommy, ’cause he was my brother’s son.

I still recall the final words my brother said to Tommy,

“Son my life is over, but yours has just begun”.

[Chorus]

“Promise me, son, not to do the things I’ve done

Walk away from trouble if you can.

It won’t mean you’re weak if you turn the other cheek

I hope you’re old enough to understand,

Son, you don’t have to fight to be a man.”

 There’s someone for everyone, and Tommy’s love was Becky.

In her arms he didn’t have to prove he was a man.

One day while he was working, the Gatlin boys came calling

They took turns at Becky, (n’there was three of them).

 Tommy opened up the door, and saw Becky crying.

The torn dress, the shattered look was more than he could stand.

He reached above the fireplace, and took down his daddy’s picture.

As the tears fell on his daddy’s face, he heard these words again:

[Chorus]

 The Gatlin boys just laughed at him when he walked into the barroom;

One of them got up and met him half way cross the floor.

When Tommy turned around they said, “Hey look! old yeller’s leaving,”

But you could’ve heard a pin drop when Tommy stopped and locked the door.

 Twenty years of crawling were bottled up inside him.

He wasn’t holding nothing back — he let ’em have it all.

When Tommy left the bar room, not a Gatlin boy was standing.

He said, “This one’s for Becky, as he watched the last one fall. (And I heard him say,)

 “I promised you, Dad, not to do the things you’ve done

I walk away from trouble when I can

Now please don’t think I’m weak, I didn’t turn the other cheek,

And papa, I should hope you understand

Sometimes you gotta fight when you’re a man”.

Yoni Kulendi and Professor Alex Dodoo should have realised that sometimes it is better to fight than make peace. That battle would not have been for their own sake, but with such a good case, they would have set the needed precedence and, perhaps, saved many more people from being hauled to the Privileges Committee to have their time wasted.

It is one case that should have traveled to the Supreme Court, if necessary, so that something could be done about that law, which makes the MPs both complainants and judges in their own court. That law is unfair because the cockroach, we all know, can never have fair trial when fowls accuse it of misconduct and the presiding judge is a fowl.

Besides, going to the Privileges Committee to plead even when you have a good case is what I liken to the act of forgiving a fool. If you forgive a fool, you hurt society. A fool does not appreciate the virtue of forgiveness. In his folly, he thinks he got away with it because he was right. Sometimes it is better to fight than to let go. Yoni Kulendi was coming from a purely moral position, but the MPs held a legal view. They thought they were right and would do that to others in the future.

I will choose morality over legality any day, but the MPs would not appreciate the fact that there are limitations to which they can exercise their right of dragging citizens to the Privileges Committee until they are challenged.

When the Privileges Committee decided to spend two days on this matter, it came at a cost to the state. The sitting allowances they took and the cost of transporting the state agencies and their representatives to parliament was an avoidable cost. The precious time spent by the MPs and all the people who were at the hearing for the two days is money. It is not in our interest that they continue doing it.

Many legal brains, including Professor H. Kwesi Prempeh, have written or spoken extensively about the legal implications of the MPs’ actions. As a journalist, I am very conversant with the Chapter 12 of the 1992 Constitution, which talks about media freedoms.

Article 162 (4) of the Constitution states: “Editors and publishers of newspapers and other institutions of the mass media shall not be subject to control or interference by Government, nor shall they be penalized or harassed for their editorial opinions and views, or the content of their publications.”

Media freedom is not absolute so Artice 164 of the Constitution states: “The provisions of articles 162 and 163 of this Constitution are subject to laws that are reasonably required in the interest of national security, public order, public morality and for the purpose of protecting the reputations, rights and freedoms of other persons.”

In a situation such as Blakk Rasta’s case, when he alleged that over 80% of MPs smoked marijuana, one can clearly say the reputation of our MPs was at stake. We should not encourage that. But being bitingly critical of someone, like Prof. Dodoo did, does not contravene any of the scenarios in article 164. At worst, parliament could have published a rejoinder.

Our MPs must earn our respect and not command it. Many Ghanaians are not happy about how our parliament is. They appear to have lost their relevance and have become an extension of the executive arm of government. In the NPP regime when that party had majority in parliament, almost all bills, laws and decisions which favoured the NPP government were passed by parliament despite agitations and protests by the citizens. The Ghana Telecom sale readily comes to mind. In some cases, the NDC minority walked out of the house but such laws still went through.

In the same way, the NDC majority now will support anything that comes from the NDC government. This has been the norm since Ghana returned to multi-party democracy in 1992. This does not portend well for the health of our democracy.

I would have accepted it as normal and concluded that our MPs can never agree on any issue if that had been the case with their car loans, accommodation allowance, among other benefits. When an issue has to do with emoluments for the MPs they become more united than the Holy Trinity.

The MPs must earn our respect through their conduct. In the recent past, some sitting members of parliament made some of the most contemptuous remarks about the house but we did not see any sanction or action from the house. We are yet to know what happened to the serious bribery allegations made by P.C. Appiah Ofori, Twumasi Appiah and Alban Bagbin against parliament.

We queue every four years to elect our representatives to the second most important arm of government in order to secure our interests. Unfortunately, they don’t seem to represent our interests. They are preoccupied with their parties’ interest.

And as if this is not bad enough, our MPs now want to intimidate us. This is what we must resist because there is nothing more painful than being beaten and stopped from crying. There is nothing more hurting than when someone puts live charcoal on your palm and instructs you to carry it with care.

You can reach Manasseh Azure Awuni through [email protected]