Tongues are wagging about the suspicion of selective justice being rife in Ghana, after a Tamale High Court sentenced a youth activist of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), Yakubu Yahuza, to death by hanging, and four others to 36 years imprisonment, while other similar alleged offences beg for justice.
The High Court, presided over by Justice Laurent Ladzagla Mensah, on Tuesday August 20, 2013, found Yakubu Yahuza guilty of murder and conspiracy to commit the murder of Abdul Rashid Mohammed, an activist of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), in Tamale in February 2009.
The other four � Habib Mohammed Dagbana, Shaibu Alhassan, Moro Gundana and Majeed Alhassan � were also found guilty of conspiracy to commit murder, and sentenced to 36 years imprisonment in hard labour.
Nana Obiri Boahene, counsel for Yakubu Yahuza, has since described the verdict as a travesty of justice, and hinted about preparations to appeal the decision of the court.
But, while he prepares his next line of action in defense of his client, there has been growing discontent among many Ghanaians, who are calling for equal justice in a similar incident which happened in August 2009, when four persons, believed to be activists of the New Patriotic Party, were butchered in broad daylight at the Konkonba Market in Accra.
Suale, Yakubu, aka JY, Sulemana and Alhassan Fuseini, aka Gibirin, were butchered and murdered in cold blood in front of the Agbogbloshie Police Station in August 2009, during a clash with persons suspected to be supporters of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC).
When the police decided to exhibit a lack of interest and inaction to apprehend the alleged murderers at the time, the Minority in Parliament, headed by Mr. Osei Kyei Mensah-Bonsu, was the sole voice raising the flags for justice.
The Minority Leader then, at a press conference in Accra, armed with information and the names of the alleged members of the gang that perpetrated the heinous crime, charged the police and the Attorney General�s office to bring the culprits to book.
Mr. Mensah Bonsu named one Mohammed Ayatu as the leader of the gang, together with Sule, Fahana, Awal, Sule Nabia, Abdullah Rasta and Abdullah Sey, who, he claimed, were members of the raiding gang that committed the barbaric act.
He, however, expressed disappointment at the seeming lack of interest by the police to bring the culprits to book.
�These are the people that are parading the streets with impunity. We are providing the leads to the Minister of the Interior; let them effect the arrest of the people immediately, if they have the securities of the good people of this country at heart,� he said.
Four years after that incident, the worst fears of the majority and many other Ghanaians who have been waiting for justice seem to have been confirmed.
None of the perpetrators has been brought to justice, hence, raising questions of possible politically motivated and selective justice in the conviction of the four in Tamale last Tuesday.
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