'Tarzan' Smells A Rat

Dr. Charles Wereko Brobby aka 'Tarzan', former CEO of Ghana@50 Secretariat, is not enthused about what the Justice Douse-led Ghana@50 Commission of Inquiry is doing under the 'cover of darkness' relative to the mandate which was given to it by law to probe the activities of the National Planning Committee and the Ghana @ 50 Secretariat in connection with the Golden Jubilee anniversary celebrations of Ghana's independence in 2007. Though the Douse Commission publicly announced that "it had concluded its public hearings and that with the exception of a few memoranda from the public on the way future national events should be conducted, it would issue a report to the President in a matter of weeks, mention was made of 3weeks", there is a clear evidence that the 3-member Commission is continuing investigations on a scale which suggests that the October 29th public announcement was not credible. "It is in the above circumstances that we find it extraordinary that far from crossing the T's and doting the I's of the final report the Commission appears to have gone into a closet and started a phase of investigations, whose character, modus operandi and practices are unknown to the people of Ghana, does not involve the main actors in the drama and is clearly being conducted in contravention of the intent and requirement of the law that established the Commission," posted Mr. Akoto Ampaw, the Lawyer who represented 'Tarzan' at the Ghana@50 Probe Proceedings. Mr. Tony Akoto Ampaw, noted that more than 5 weeks had passed since the end of public hearings, which the State and the Commission spent substantial amounts of public resources to be telecast live, so Ghanaians may themselves assess the testimony of witnesses and yet the anticipation by many people that the Commission's final report would have been ready by now has turned out to be unfounded and baseless. "Indeed, the Commission's original tenure of 90 days which the Vice President assured was sacrosanct, expired on September 16, 2007 and will have run 100% overtime within a week from now. The fact that the Commission requested for and was granted an extension of its mandate still does not explain this long delay and continuing investigations which are unknown to the public", underscored Akoto Ampaw. In an emphatic manner, Akoto Ampaw stated that "in the circumstances we are driven to the conclusion that at best the Commission has not quite sufficiently finished its work to have given the impression it had almost reached the point of final reportage. At worst it does, with respect, appear very disturbing that the Commission has told the people of Ghana one thing, i.e., 'we are done' and then retired secretly into a dark and opaque closet to carry out the inquiry according to its own rules, own procedures and with very little regard to the law that established it or the principles of natural justice which guarantee access to every major actor to participate in and observe the process at every stage of conduct and deliberation". Akoto Ampaw on behalf of his client, "Tarzan", expressed regret that what "is currently going on may tend to give cause to any independent observer raising questions as to the true intent and object of the Commission".