? WHERE IS OUR JUSTICE- CRIME VICTIMS

Justice Anywhere is Justice Everywhere, quotes Martin Luther King ( jnr)

INTRO

It was one of the busiest days on campus. Deadline for the submission of our project works was in the offing .Typical of many students, the last minute syndrome was on the verge of disowning them as it always does.

I was quiet fortunate to have finished mine early. With the no nonsense of a supervisor I had, I knew I couldn’t stake that cards and bet my hopes of graduating away. This was a major driving force that goaded me to complete my work early.

Having done with mine, I turned into a pseudo –consultant, providing assistance to many of my colleagues who also wanted to defy time.

It was in one of this consultative sessions in the library that a thief exploit to pick my Laptop which was sitting a little behind where I sat.

When it dawn on me to turn and make reference to my machine, it was gone. The fear of losing all the things that I had ever done with that machine became a source of great worry to me. I could only take solace from the fact that the day of my unceremonious departure with my companion (My Laptop) was the same day I had printed my project work. With my project in hard format, the pain, though disheartening, was not excruciating relative to how I would have felt had the otherwise been the case.

The news surrounding my mysterious lost spread so quickly (Not like Wild Fire but Dumsor Dumsor). Even before I could get out of the library, my colleagues at the reception had gotten wind of the situation. It was great experience that shaped my human relations skills. 

For some of my mates, their feared was that my lost meant I had lost important class documents. Others were particularly attentive to the injury that my pink-color laptop had left me with, having depended on it for almost the four years of my life on campus.

In an honest show of sympathy laced with guilt, my friend opted to give me his brand New Dell to use and keep for good. I was lucky. In fact, it became a source of pride to me. The fact that of the many victims of laptop theft, I was the only person to get mine replaced speaks volumes to the kind of reputation and love I had earned over my educational stint. 

In the dying embers of our campus days on campus, the situation of Laptop theft became so critical. Some of my colleagues in view of the development boycotted the library. But, for some of us, not using the school luxury was an unaffordable luxury. Though many security mechanisms were devised to stem the tide, it did not materialize.

Although I believe in providence, I am equally a very analytical person. Things that happens to me are always a learning opportunity for me. Typical of me, I didn’t let this situation pass without subjecting to critical analysis.

OBSERVATIONS

In my reflective moods, I took the pains to assess how our justice system works for the victim. The subject of how victims of crime are reimbursed came nagging.

When a crime is committed, the usual trend is that frantic efforts are made at rounding up perpetrators and subjecting them to the full rigors of the law. 

In some cases, huge bounty is placed on the criminals, making  crime a money making avenue for informants-(This is not to say that I am opposed to the concept).

Our pre-occupation  with the criminal tends to shroud or overtake any other efforts, especially the critical efforts of helping to reimburse or providing lifelines to victims of a crime.

While I agree that criminals must be punished, better still, incarcerated to serve as a deterrence to others, I strongly believe that victims of the crimes should be supported so that the psychological, emotional and financial trauma that comes with crime will be mitigated, to a large extent.

From where I sit, I see a criminal justice system which is aimed more at deterrence than restoration. 

When my machine was stolen, no School Administrator/Management/Lecture/Security Chief call to commiserate with me on my lost-(Perhaps they thought I was careless). The sober looking librarians could only lament and rehash the mechanisms they have put in place to me to remedy the menace.

I was totally dumbfounded at the issue at handled. At this point, all kind of heinous thoughts came calling. Though some were highly unacceptable, I had to entertain them given the mental state the development had plunged me. 

For once, the bringing of a Mallam to the library by one female colleague of mine confronted with similar fate, begun to make sense to me. (This was however an exercise in futility; an act that I will never condone under any circumstance). 

Last week, the Chief Justice was reported as signaling an intensification of her Justice for All Programme. Her commitment to this Programme was given a praetorian impetus when a documentary by one diligent journalist from stocks of the Multi-media was presented to her. The documentary which chronicles the plights of remand prisoners was equally presented to the Interior ministry for perusal.

 

While I agree and commend the Chief Justice for her efforts in this regard, I strongly posit that the Justice for all programme will truly live up to its meaning if it is extended to victims who suffer from one criminal act or the other.

In a country where insurance penetration is still record time-low, we must not leave anything to chance. Efforts at restoring victims of crime should prioritized if we are serious about reducing crime to the barest minimum.

Other Agencies of socialization have also lost grasp over the issue. At an open forum in church last two weeks, I was shocked at the amount that had been earmarked for victims who had suffered one unfortunate fate in the hands of criminals. The amount was so paltry that it can’t even foot lorry fare of a victim seeking to report the case in the Police Station.

In view of this circumstance, is it not possible that priority over criminals at the expense of victims is the reason why crime abounds at the rate? Is it not possible that these victims end up becoming criminals either for vengeance or as means for survival? What opportunities are designed to restore.

RECOMMENDATIONS

• ·        As the Agenda setter and Purveyor of information, the media should widen its scope to cover stories of crime victims in order to re-focus public conversations towards the victims.

• ·        I commend the Chief Justice’s efforts at swift justice dispersal except to add that she should include more victim-restorative mechanism in that regard.

• ·        Policy and law makers should focus and place premium on intensifying victim-restorative end of the criminal laws.

• ·        If these laws exits then the National Commission for Civic Education should keep the public abreast with them.

• ·        Agencies of Socialization-the Church, School, Traditional Authorities and other interest groups must also rise up to the duty of ensure human decency.

Samuel Osarfo Boateng

PR/Communication Analyst.

samuelcreasta@gmail.com

MY TOUGHEST DECISION SO FAR AS THE CHIEF JUSTICE OF AUCC’S SRC

INTRO

News in respect of the supposed impeachment of the President of the Students’ Representative Council had gone viral on the social media over the weekend. Alarmed at what had been done at the previous sitting of the students’ legislative arm, the chief Justice and other members of the Executive councils who were left out of the hook at this preposterous development were inundated with calls by a section of both student membership and some Lecturers.

Student had been sharply divided following this development. Whiles some were obviously opposed to the impeachment of the president in what they believed as being sentimental attempts by some section of congress members to smudge the President’s hard won reputation, others were uncompromising in their quest to oust a President to whom a litany of unsubstantiated allegations had been leveled against. For the latter, not even attempts at resolving the matter at management level could change their stands on the President’s fate. Some of these students went as far as declaring as Vacant the position of the President, vowing to stifle the activities of the council should the President clings unto power.

Tension was at fever pitch in the following weeks as verbal confrontations, accusations and counter debates became the order of the day. It was in the midst of this dilemma and brouhaha that the Chief Justice, Samuel Osarfo Boateng, was petition to determine, among other things, the propriety or otherwise of the action that had been carried on by 19 congress men on Friday,December13,2013.

This piece which equally went viral on the social media went a long to quenching the embers of controversy that had been lighted by this development while prompting student leadership to follow due process. Below is the write up:

CHIEF JUSTICE’S RESPONDS TO A NOTIFICATION TO SWEAR IN THE VICE PRESIDENT AS THE SUBSTANTIVE PRESIDENT FOLLOWING A SUPPOSED IMPEACHMENT OF THE COUNCIL’S PRESIDENT

 I have been asked to take a very easy but dicey decision ever. As a chief justice I cannot but take absolute recourse to the constitution, whose article has been invoked to ground the occasion.

I have been notified to swear in the vice president as a President of the council. While I do not operate at Congress, I still think that some clarity needs to established, especially where anything untoward can adversely affect the reputation of the judicial council and the entire student leadership as a whole.

When the notice was served on me, I couldn’t but, attempt to abreast myself with that section of the constitution that legitimizes my exclusively reserved duty of swearing in the vice as the substantive president.

After reading Chapter 4 ,Article 8 clause 4 (e) :‘‘When the president dies, resigns or removed from office ,the Vice President shall assume office as president for the unexpired term of the office of the president with effect of the date of the death, resignation or removal from office’’.

These questions became nagging:

·        First, is the president dead?

·        Second, has the president resigned?

·        Lastly, has the president been removed?

Of these three questions, the third one stood out. Yes, the question of whether or not the president has been removed. This particular question appeared critical to the extent that the president is not dead and has not officially resigned.

It therefore left me with the duty of establishing whether or not the president has legally been removed: the only basis for which I could confidently perform this function.

When confronted with the duty of establishing whether or not the president has been removed, I could not but again take recourse to the same constitution which mandates me to do exactly what I have been called, to do.

In my quest to establishing this, I chanced on Chapter six : Article 16 which clearly spells out the procedure for removal of office. I therefore quote, with your indulgence, clauses in that article:

1.     For the purpose of removal from office an Executive officer, a notice in writing, shall be given to the Chief Justice who shall notify all members of the council.

2.     The notice referred to in this clause above shall be accompanied statement setting out in detail, the facts, supported by the necessary documents on which the removal is sought.

3.     The judicial council shall within one week add its independent opinion to the facts as to its merits or otherwise.

4.     The speaker of congress shall convey a congress meeting within one week after  submission of the judicial council’s independent report

5.     Impeachment proceedings shall commence where applicable.’’

After studious perusal of these clauses, one thing that became clear to me was that, though my office is supposed to be the first point of call in the process of removal from office, I had not been served in writing with any notification, detailing the facts for the president’s removal as spelt out in clauses 1& 2 of Article 16.

It therefore follows that swearing in another person will not only amount to a miscarriage of justice but most importantly go to suggest the level of disrespect that I have for the office that I honorably occupy.

Again, joining in the commemoration of another person as president, when all the constitutional avenues for such an action have not been fully exploited will drag into the mud the reputation of honorable congress men and women while setting an unenviable precedence that defeats the spirit behind chapter six of this constitution.

Finally, consummating what honorable congress men and women had started by swearing in the vice as president today, will mean that the chief Justice has no respect for due diligence. This I think is highly inimical to the dispersion of Justice.

It is for these reasons and many other implication that today’s action will have, not only on subsequent presidents, but their executives  and other officials of the council that I am unable, by principle and integrity to swear the vice in as president.

 I therefore declare that the supposed impeachment of the council’s President on December, 12, 2013 at congress, is illegal and egregious abuse of constitutional power by honorable congress men and women.

Honorable members are, however, encouraged to follow diligently the procedure for removal and subsequent impeachment, as clearly spelt out in article 16 and 17 respectively.

I am most grateful for indulging me.

SIGNED:

SAMUEL OSARFO BOATENG

CHIEF JUSTICE, AUCC.

COMMENTARY

This was not perfect. At least, determining the suavity or otherwise of my judgment is not responsibility for me to discharge. Indeed, many of my colleagues most of whom were hell bent on seeing the back of the SRC President at the time were not very happy about my verdict. Even though most of them had not read the verdict afford them a fair assessment of the thoughts that went to the decision, they were unrestrained and uncharitable in their criticis.

As a student Leader, a lot of people had so much confidence in me. The fact that many will wait for my Two Week Pre-Exams Classes to prepare for their end of semester Papers evinces the degree of trust most of my colleagues had in my judgment and integrity.

Nonetheless, in the political space, the very people who had shown so much confidence in my judgment were the very people who were uncharitably criticizing my verdict.

Meanwhile, many others also agreed perfectly with this verdict. In fact, one of my Lectures on reading the article commented:’’ Sammy, this is perfect’’. Personally, I was impressed with the fact that I did what my conscience and my sense of judgment dictated.

In all the unfolding scenes of events, I learnt a great lesson. The hypocrisy of people and the extent to which they will go to see their ambitions manifest became so glaring to me. It was indeed, a perfect training ground for me as I was rounding up my first degree Programme to enter the world of work.

For the many lessons that I learnt I think the bulleted below are INSTRUCTIVE:

• ·        You can’t please all the People all the Time.

• ·        Any Attempt at pleasing all is equally an attempt at Suicide.

• ·        It is better one does what is valid and suave by their own judgment and conscience.

• ·        Never take decisions that end up pitting your character against your reputation.

• ·        Nobility and Integrity will never loss their relevance, however, corrupt the world will be.

• ·        You cannot fight the battles alone: I haven’t seen a land so volatile and corruption-prone as the isolated land.

• ·        It good to read but it better to study, even best when you learn.

Samuel Osarfo Boateng.

PR/Communication Analyst

samuelcreasata@gmail.com

0541842198.