ghananlpcommunity/ghana-gov-speeches-sentences huggingface dataset:
The patriotic zeal that gave birth to June 4 is one that cannot be extinguished.
Any attempt to compromise on the ideals of probity, accountability and integrity in our everyday lives is an attempt to snuff out the light that was lit 41 years ago.
Let us honour the memories of those who laid down their lives liberating Ghana.
Former President Jerry John Rawlings has revealed that there had been times in the past when he had felt like leaving the party he founded and moving on but the plight of good people in the party had held him at bay.
At the 38th-anniversary of June 4 revolution, he spoke about how he is "greatly pained by the events of the past few days," describing the killing of fallen army captain as "dastardly, wicked, irrational and needless murder of Captain Maxwell Mahama constrains me so much."
Touching on the National Democratic Congress (NDC)'s abysmal performance in last December's election, "he said we lost our masses because we betrayed the values of June 4."
"However if this horse – jockey business cannot be resolved comprehensively, allowing integrity to prevail, then let both of them step aside and allow for fresh leaders with solid integrity to provide the needed leadership," he said.
Below is the full speech: The Waa Naa, Naa Fuseini Seidu Pelpuo, Distinguished Traditional Leaders, Leading members of the NDC, The proud people of Wa and sympathisers drawn from the length and breadth of the country; Thank you for your warm welcome since I arrived in Wa yesterday.
The reception has been exceptional and charged.
My special gratitude goes to Naa Fuseini Seidu Pelpuo and the Upper West Regional House of Chiefs for the warm reception at the Palace and the honour done me with the enskinment as the Gbagala Pie Na, a title that signifies the very spiritual and unifying essence of Wa as a Kingdom.
The massive presence here during the season of the Ramadan fasting is indicative of the fact that the people of Wa still appreciate the true values of June 4 and uphold it with great pride.
Ladies and Gentlemen; I am greatly pained by the events of the past few days.
The dastardly, wicked, irrational and needless murder of Captain Maxwell Mahama constrains me so much.
Nonetheless, I will share a few thoughts about the very importance of June 4 and most especially remind us of the underlining values and principles which guided the popular uprising.
The principles of June 4 are not alien or has never been alien to mankind.
They are no different from the most basic religious or human values.
Probity, accountability and social justice would on any day liberate the overwhelming majority of our people from the bondage or difficulties they find themselves in.
The fight against corruption, greed and avarice has however been at great cost.
Noble soldiers have died; noble civilians have died for it and so many of the noble ones have suffered and continue to suffer all kinds of indignities for their principles and convictions.
Together with my wife, we have faced the most unimaginable consequences trying to protect and defend these principles.
Very cruel insults and humiliations have been designed and are still being designed to shed off any influence that I may still command even in the political party that was founded and built on the principles that guided June 4.
To the comrades whose tenacity has provided the voice of conscience within this country and the NDC, I am profoundly grateful.
There have been times in the past when I felt like booting this party and moving on; the only thing that has however prevented me from doing so is the plight the remaining good people would face.
Such a departure will allow the agents of greed, and avarice and dishonesty to further deepen their claws on you and the party.
We squandered many opportunities to clean up and to restore the June 4th principles in the party.
I want to remind people that we could not have possibly forgotten that Generals were executed.
The greed, corruption and injustice of today is a thousand times more than what these Generals were executed for and if we are unable to restore a firm measure of integrity into our dealings, then the blood of many would have been shed in vain.
If we cannot get our claws off and allow for fresh leadership to emerge then we shall sink further.
Not too long ago I thought we heard the jockeys claiming the horses were responsible for this disgraceful failure while one of the horses was bold enough to lay the failure at the doorstep of the jockeys.
For me, we lost our masses because we betrayed the values of June 4.
However if this horse – jockey business cannot be resolved comprehensively, allowing integrity to prevail, then let both of them step aside and allow for fresh leaders with solid integrity to provide the needed leadership.
Let us endeavour to stand by the truth and restore and instill the values of June 4 in our country’s culture.
Ladies and gentlemen; yesterday when I paid a courtesy call on the Wa Naa and members of the Regional House of Chiefs I called for unity and peace in your communities.
This morning the President of the Queenmothers reiterated that call by pleading for peace to guarantee development.
Most of you are not unaware of the simmering undercurrents within your communities.
Do not allow differences that can be resolved with consultation and compromise to degenerate into bitterness and potential conflict.
This call is not unique to only Wa and its related communities.
This is a call to the whole country.
Quite a number of lives have been lost in the recent past due to our failure to resolve our differences and an increasing canker of intolerance.
Ghana prides itself in the peaceful co-existence of persons of diverse, ethnic, religious and political persuasions and we cannot allow that reputation to be compromised.
Distinguished Traditional leaders and all gathered here today; Ghana needs us to stand up for what is right, just and positive for our growth and development.
The socio-political development of Ghana is dependent on our consistency in defending the ideals of truth, integrity, probity and accountability.
Let that be our guiding principle in everything we do.
I thank you so much for your presence and goodwill and wish you all the best in all your endeavours.
In his address on the occasion of the 35th Anniversary of the 31st December revolution, the ex-President Jerry John Rawlings minced no words in chiding the outgoing administration of deviating from the core principles that brought the NDC into being.
He has blamed what he says is the humiliating defeat of the National Democratic Congress on corrupt, uncouth, and uncultured government officials.
Read his speech below: December 31st, 2016 Niimei, Naamei, Ministers of State, Religious leaders & Wulomei, Comrades, Fellow Ghanaians, Ladies and Gentlemen: 35 years ago I vividly remember the dark hours of our nation that we sought to redeem collectively as a people.
31st December 1981 revolution was 18 months after an uprising that awakened the conscientiousness of the Ghanaian people.
The honesty and vigour of our action was met with the support and understanding of a vast majority of Ghanaians who saw it as an opportunity to restore the dignity of the ordinary man.
The fallen heroes we honour today expect of us in the least, never to relapse into those same old days.
But that has not been the case.
In the wake of the revolution we made pronouncements that summed up the state of affairs that prevailed then.
I admonished back then that; “Ghana should be a land where it will be accepted practice and norm that those who earn the privilege to govern, should administer in humility, conscious that they are the servants of the people and are ready to submit themselves and their actions to public scrutiny and accountability”.
Most people are yet to recover from the traumatic shock of the December 7th election results.
But I will have to state that if we turn our backs to our history us a party, we cannot escape the responsibility for the result.
Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat their mistakes over and over again.
Need I remind you that the NDC was built on principles and values that emerged as a result of circumstances that led to our birth?
The NDC’s painful and massive rejection at the polls is indicative that we have lost the moral high ground that sets us apart from others.
Great lengths were taken to draw the attention of the party as a collective but none of it will be tolerated or accommodated.
We lost the elections way before the 7th of December.
We persistently and unrepentantly stayed on the slippery slope to the humiliating defeat despite the several warning lights right in our faces.
My honest wish was for corrective measures to be taken to avert this electoral disaster.
Ladies and Gentlemen, if I did not understand the dynamics of human nature and behaviour we would not have attempted 15th May.
If I did not degrade what was intended on that 15th May, June 4th would not have happened.
The eruption that took place on June 4th is what would have happened on 15th May.
If I did not understand the dynamics of human nature and behaviour, there would not have been the need for a return on 31st December 1981 and to successfully lead a revolution for ten years.
If I did not understand the dynamics of human nature, I would not have gone into multi-party democracy and won two free and fair elections.
If I did not understand the role and effect of injustice and corruption in the dynamics of human nature, we could not have won back the seat of government in 2008.
In spite of this history and performance, some handlers and manipulators who have profited from our past two governments want to promote a lie about the reasons for our failures in order to perpetuate their hold on the NDC party.
I don’t think I was the only one who saw the writing on the wall.
Many people from our very own party I believe, could see the writing on the wall that we were going to lose this past election.
It was obvious a long time ago that we wouldn’t make it.
Our general negativity, impunity, disrespect and corruption was taking us further and further downhill.
About the time when most were living in the painful reality with stress and anger, that’s when some of us chose to be more impervious to reality.
We had lost so much goodwill.
I kept providing the warning whenever and wherever I could, and in public as well.
But no, once again the uncouth and uncultured in our party and government chose to insult and disrespect some of us.
The genuine and true founders and elders (warriors and youthful fighters) of what has transformed into the NDC were being disregarded and disrespected way back from 2008 after victory was delivered on a silver platter.
With the passage of time a few too many selfish and greedy characters soon began to jump on board.
There were some good people; very good people but leadership and the command structure did not empower them to override those who were destroying the party and the government.
I have worked with good people all my life.
I have worked with bad people all my life, some wicked, some with character defects but evil natured people must be kept away.
Some of us, however, do not seem to have the cognitive intelligence to recognize their presence.
All the while we were feeling smug and comfortable because we thought the hidden division in the main opposition’s leadership was going to work so well in our favour.
How so wrong could we be?
How could we have for one minute made the mistake of thinking that the disloyalty at the senior leadership level was going to percolate into the grassroots of the NPP.
God’s given direction for leadership are the principles of integrity, probity and accountability.
These principles are embedded in the collective conscience of the grassroots.
There was a gaping disconnect between leadership and the masses as the latter was left disillusioned.
To make matters worse the ordinary man felt even more insulted by the crass display of wealth by people who should have known better.
If the masses knew about the detrimental effects of the greed and avarice perpetuated by some of our own people in leadership they would never forgive us.
Examples abound all around us.
You need not stretch your imagination at all.
If we all don’t do some careful introspection and openly show remorse for the betrayal of the people’s trust we might not recover in time for the next election.
The oppressive machinery will not desert us voluntarily.
We need not shrink from honestly facing the conditions in our party and country today.
This is the time to pre-eminently speak the whole truth, frankly and courageously.
But rather than facing the obvious truth about why we lost, Rawlings once again has to be made the scapegoat of their failures.
I believe this time around our people have seen through it and we would embark on the right steps to regain our moral high ground.
The moral high ground that we have abandoned and on which the new leader is now standing.
Let me assert my firm belief that the intrinsic ability of the NDC to rejuvenate and recapture the moral high ground is in no doubt.
But it lies with the silent majority who would have to rise up and activate processes that will cleanse us.
We owe it as a duty to restore and protect the legacy that we fought for from the beginning.
Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen; Thank you.
Ladies and Gentlemen of the Media: Upon assumption of office as the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, I have taken decisions on certain prosecutions that were instituted by my predecessors, the Honourable Gloria Akuffo and the Honourable Godfred Yeboah Dame.
Specifically, I decided to drop the criminal charges laid against certain persons including those who served in the Government of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) that left office in January 2017.
I did so mindful of the fact that I am serving in a government that came to power on the back of promises of exacting accountability from everyone who has served or is serving in public office.
I am here today to account to my fellow citizens for the decisions I have taken so far.
As Attorney General, I am keenly aware that the prosecutorial authority vested in me under article 88 of the Constitution is discretionary in nature and is subject to the constitutional requirements set out in articles 296 of the Constitution.
The import of these constitutional requirements is that, in the exercise of my prosecutorial power, I must not only act reasonably and fairly and comply with all the requirements imposed on me by law but also, I must be candid with those whose life and liberty depend on my decisions.
In addition, the Constitution requires that my decision to prosecute should not be “capricious or biased whether by resentment, prejudice or personal dislike”.
Before taking any of the decisions I am about to explain, I consulted widely: I had several briefings from the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) on each of the cases.
Where I disagreed with her, I made my disagreement known to her with reasons.
I spoke to the defense lawyers in each case and, again, where there were disagreements, as for instance in the banking clean-up cases which I shall deal with shortly, I made my views known to the lawyers.
I spoke to some of the investigators involved in the cases at hand to get a sense of what they found during their investigations of the cases.
Finally, I met with and discussed the banking sector cases with at least one of the receivers involved in these cases.
I have scheduled a meeting with the second receiver.
Ladies and Gentlemen of the Media: The traditional view within the legal profession has always been that the Attorney General owes nobody an explanation for his decision to enter a nolle prosequi (Latin for “there shall be no prosecution”) or terminate a prosecution.
But that view does not comport with the architecture of our Constitution, and I absolutely disagree with it.
As ably articulated by Pwamang JSC in his concurring opinion in Gregory Afoko vrs Attorney General , Suit No.
J1/8/2019, Supreme Court, 19 th June 2019, at p.
20: “The decisions to prosecute and to terminate prosecution of suspected offenders is a matter of immense public interest.
Furthermore, it affects the rights of the suspected offenders who may be compelled to suffer the indignation of prosecution when there is seriously no point in mounting prosecution on the facts of the case.
It is because of these considerations that the modern trend in democracies is for prosecutorial authorities to be open about the factors on which they take the decisions to initiate or terminate prosecutions.”
Therefore, my decision to be open and transparent about the factors animating the entry of nolle prosequi in some cases and withdrawal of others is not only because I wish to avoid accusations of partiality and or capitulation to political pressure but also to comply with the constitutional requirements stated in article 296 of the Constitution.
Moreso, in the best ethics of the legal profession, every lawyer is mandated to act in the best interest of his client and no lawyer worth his or her salt will purport to act in the best interest of the client by doing so on the blindside of the client.
As Attorney General, my only client is the Republic of Ghana represented by its sovereign people.
And as stated above, I intend to provide the reasons for my decisions in the cases in which I have either entered a nolle prosequi or withdrawn the charges laid against the accused persons involved to my fellow citizens who have entrusted this power to me through the President of the Republic.
Ladies and Gentlemen of the Media: Before I proceed to assign the reasons for my decision in each of the cases, I wish to crave your indulgence to provide a brief explanation of the technical difference between the entry of a nolle prosequi and the withdrawal of charges.
The power to enter a nolle prosequi is contained in section 54 of the Criminal and Other Offences (Procedure) Act, 1960 (Act 30).
Pursuant to this provision, the Attorney General may enter a nolle prosequi at any stage of a criminal trial.
The statute does not itself require the Attorney General to provide any reasons for his decision to abate proceedings by entering the nolle prosequi .
However, as I have made clear above, the constitutional principles in article 296 impose an obligation on the Attorney General to be candid in the exercise of discretionary power and I cannot fathom how one can be candid without explaining one’s actions.
When a nolle prosequi is used by the Attorney General to terminate proceedings in a criminal trial, he reserves the right to bring fresh charges against the accused person in the future.
In contrast, the Attorney General may terminate criminal proceedings by withdrawing the charges against an accused person pursuant to section 59 of the Criminal and Other Offences (Procedure) Act, 1960 (Act 30).
Where the charges are withdrawn after the prosecution has closed its case, then the legal effect of the withdrawal is that the accused is deemed to have been acquitted and discharged.
So, in all the cases in which I have withdrawn the charges against the accused persons, and the prosecution has closed its case, those accused persons are considered to have been acquitted and discharged.
Ladies and Gentlemen of the Media: My decision to terminate the criminal trials was animated in the main by three factors.
The first was that for ethical and professional reasons, I could not in good conscience continue to prosecute some of the cases.
The second was that, for some of the cases, my own review and analysis of the charges showed clearly that the charges were defective, and some were filed against the promptings of plain commonsense.
The third reason was that, in some of the cases, the evidence led so far showed that there was reasonable doubt as to the guilt of the accused persons and no prosecutor should continue to pursue a case in the face of overwhelming doubt regarding the guilt of the accused.
Also, it is important to highlight the fact that in most of the cases in which I have terminated proceedings, the conduct of some of the individual judges left much to be desired.
I will deal with the issue of judicial conduct in my concluding remarks.
Suffice it to say that it raises the specter of lack of fairness in criminal proceedings where a judge is seen to be overly hostile to the accused and unreservedly deferential to the prosecution.
Now to my first substantive reason for dropping charges in some of the cases.
As noted above, for purely ethical and professional reasons, I could not in good conscience continue to exercise my prosecutorial authority under article 88(3) in some of the cases.
These cases were the Republic v. Cassiel Ato Forson & Another and Republic v. Ofosu Ampofo & Another .
This is because I was deeply involved as counsel in these two cases.
In the case of Republic v. Ato Forson, I was not counsel of record but my junior partner, Godwin Kudzo Tameklo was.
As a team, we discussed our case strategy in chambers, and I was involved in reviewing legal arguments and in some instances authoring some of the arguments that we filed.
I believed then and still believe now that the Honourable Ato Forson was the victim of a political witch-hunt and that he had no case to answer in that trial.
That position was vindicated by the erudite judgment of the Court of Appeal which ruled that the trial court erred in calling upon the accused persons to mount their defence.
When the then Attorney General vowed to file an appeal and actually went ahead to do so, I took the view that it was done to save face and that there was not a scintilla of merit to his appeal.
Indeed, the appeal was, to say the least, incompetent.
My involvement in the case of Republic v. Ofosu Ampofo & Another is a matter of public record.
At the initial stages of the trial, I was on record as counsel with the venerable Tony Lithur and my former boss, the Honourable Marietta Brew.
It was our position as a team that the charges against the Honourable Ofosu Ampofo were trumped up and motivated purely by politics.
I still stand by that view.
Ethically, a prosecutor should and must have the courage of his convictions and must remain fearless to stand by those convictions even in the face of a severe storm of public criticism.
Strident criticism should not be reason why a self-respecting prosecutor must abandon his professional convictions in favor of political praise.
So, I am owning up to stand by the professional decision I took that in my current position as Attorney General, and the prosecutor for that matter, I was not going to suddenly recant my position and continue to prosecute the accused persons in the two cases.
No new evidence has been presented to me upon assumption of office as Attorney General to cause me to abandon my professional convictions.
As an aside, in any decent constitutional democracy, the disgraceful and unethical conduct of the former Attorney General in interfering with a key witness who also happened to be the second accused in the Ato Forson case should have resulted automatically in a mistrial.
But let us leave that for another day.
Ladies and Gentlemen of the Media: The second reason why I dropped the charges in some of the cases, as I stated above, is that the charges were defective and, upon careful scrutiny, were filed against the promptings of plain commonsense.
In the case of the Republic v. Collins Dauda & Others , for instance, the first accused was charged with misapplying public property (funds) in the sum of Two Hundred Million United States Dollars (USD200million) .
In laying the charges, the prosecution failed and or neglected to take account of the basic fact that it was part of that US$200m that was used to construct the houses at Saglemi.
In other words, the value of that built environment is, in my considered opinion, a key determinant of how much of the total sum was allegedly misapplied by the Honourable Collins Dauda.
Discounting the value of the built environment renders the charge defective.
The prosecution in this case also failed and or neglected to take account of payments that were made by other Ministers who took office after the Honourable Collins Dauda.