The 'secret' release of Buruwaa from prison
From our Tribunal Correspondent
Something drastic ought to be done about the whole concept of public tribunals if the people of Ghana are to accept it as a permanent part of the judicial system. Recently Chairman Rawlings had cause to attack the tribunal system because of two most controversial judgements given in the Nii Amo Addy and Kwame Arhin cases.Another case which has set people wondering whether the whole question of public tribunals was dangerous is what has now become popularly known as the Buruwaa case. The case, also loosely referred to as the "Secret Release" has re-established or reaffirmed the generally accepted notion that experience, old age and wisdom cannot be substituted with infantile revolutionary zeal, arrogance and mediocrity.
Madam Ernestina Akousa Buruwaa was convicted for attempting to smuggle gold to Lome, Togo. She was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment and fined C200,000 by the Addo- Aikins Tribunal. She paid the C200,000 fine and a discharge warrant in respect of the fine was prepared by the tribunal registrar for signature. Addo-Aikins had travelled outside the country and therefore George Agyekum, Chairman of the Board of Public Tribunals signed the discharge warrant. It turned out that George Agyekum had signed a release warrant and the prison authorities accordingly released Buruwaa from the Nsawam Medium Security Prison.
Buruwaa was travellig again when security officers spotted her. They reported to the tribunal authorities that the woman whose arrest they affected and who was jailed had been seen at the Kotoka International Airport.
George Agyekum, tribunal board chairman quickly issued a statement accusing the prison authorities of secretly releasing Buruwaa, and called for investigations into the matter.
The prison authorities produced a release warrant signed by George Agyekum. The investigations had taken a dramatic turn. Why did Agyekum sign a release warrant instead of a discharge warrant in respect of the C200,000 fine?
George Agyekum assembled his tribunal panel to find answers to the whys and hows. But his colleague, Kwaku Addo-Aikins, held a different view. "You can't be a judge in your own court," Addo-Aikins might have said to himself. Addo-Aikins' argument was that since George Agyekum signed the release warrant for Buruwaa, he was disqualified to sit on the case (investigations) in his capacity as the tribunal chairman. He said Agyekum was a 'suspect' in the investigations and would be required to give evidence from the witness box.
The Buruwaa case became Addo-Aikins versus George Agyekum and the venue for the drama was the State House. Agyekum insisted on sitting on the case and the verbal exchanges nearly resulted in fistcuffs until their colleagues from related organs of revolutionary justice came to intervene. When sanity prevailed, Agyekum left the seat and Addo-Aikins rightly took charge of the investigations.
The two tribunal men - Agyekum and Addo-Aikins had been at loggerheads since the inception of the tribunal concept. The feud had been caused by personality conflicts - who is more qualified as the tribunal chairman? Or who is more revolutionary? Their inability to find answers to these questions was the direct consequence of the rather ugly scene at the tribunal sitting.
Meanwhile, Buruwaa has fled the country. And the question still remains unanswered: "Why did George Agyekum sign a release warrant without reading it to find out what actually he was signing?" Experience, they say, is the best teacher.
