ARE WE LEARNING FROM OUR RELIGIOUS SEASONS

Promoting Trust in the Police and Judiciary Is Everyone’s Duty

By Benjamin Pulle Niriwa, 15.04.2022

Every year Christians have been celebrating Christmas, Easter, and other religious seasons. During all these periods we are always told to emulate Christ as believers. But from experience, human beings are not learning from our previous mistakes as could be seen from previous and current behaviors of humans (Adom, 2021; Edd, 2021). Only adults were always involved in murder for money, but nowadays teenagers are misled into killing with the false hope of becoming successful early in life (Adom, 2021; Edd, 2021).

The question that we need to ask ourselves is, why would someone of that age resort to committing crime against his colleague humans, thinking that is the only way he can make it in life? It all boils down to our environment! How we treat others in our various families, communities, religions, nations and globally is one the reasons. A poor elderly person is not allowed to talk because we tag him/her as “Nobody!” From experience I have heard others ask to poor elderly persons as nothing and it is very disheartening! They do that by asking them funny questions that when people are talking you also want to talk? But rephrasing what I posted on Facebook 15.03.2017, I will say that: “Nobody is somebody: Everybody is somebody!”

The season of Easter is warning against all these and especially bias judgments, but bias judgment is a serious problem of our time where justice is reserved mostly for the rich. At the family level through to the international level, judgments mostly favor the rich (Ghanamma., 2022) not because they are right. But why do most of our Judges who we give them the honor like “God”, entrusting them to judge our cases mostly behave like that?

It is even becoming more serious than before, since most people are becoming more materialistic than before (Niriwa, 2022; Adom, 2021; Edd, 2021). Unlike in the olden days where a good character is gold, nowadays a good character rather makes you a target for “sabotage”. We use to say that: “Knowledge is a power!” (Kao, 2021; Chen et al., 2020). Experience tells me that in our 21^st Century’s World being knowledgeable makes you a target for sabotage, stigma and discrimination. Like in the olden days, being knowledgeable was one of the reasons why Jesus is crucified.

Human behaviors are gradually destroying everything that serves as oil of peace. This has always been the case with most human beings as could be traced from the time of Jesus Christ (Matthew., 2:1-16. KJV. 1611). Saboteurs are always to defend themselves with the false claim that their victim has nothing that would make them envious! Bias judgment could be used as a tool for sabotage by saboteurs against targeted victims too.

My Personal Experience of a Bias Judgment

I have personally witnessed a case of bias judgment where an influential man seriously abused a journalist (or young investigator) for doing nothing, but the right thing. This journalist as an experienced person quickly suspected that this person was going to spread falsehoods against him. This is because he was saying things that are not true reflections of the young journalist in the form of questions thrown at him. But any time he tries to politely answer any of the questions that he throws at him, he would falsely accused him as challenging him. The truth is that most people believe such influential people a lot without any doubt! That is one of the reasons why in most cases, the moment they talk it becomes final and no one says anything.

This issue happened in Ghana in September 2022 at a health facility (name withheld for ethical reasons). So the journalist being experienced person and knowing what is likely to happen made use of his experience by recording whatever was going on between them. Unfortunately, things went the way the gentleman suspected. But most of these people are always very smart too! When he was threatening to report the journalist for no offense with an abusive language and sacked him out of his office, he was going to tell their Chief Executive Officer (CEO) about what happened.

Sensing that since the gentleman moved toward that direction, he quickly called him back and was intentionally delaying him. He did that by falsely accusing him again of nothing that he did wrong after leaving his office. But it was because his office is directly opposite to the CEO’s office route and he saw the investigator going there. So, whilst he was intentionally delaying him, he sent one of his colleagues’ workers to call the administrator of the CEO before he pretended to allow him to go. Fortunately, the journalist recorded that encounter too. Then, after he just left his office and was going to the CEO’s office the administrator entered this influential man’s office and he quickly sent for the journalist again.

If he knew that something like that has already being planned against him, he could have ignored them and proceeded to see the CEO. But because he did not know he went back! There was no formal introduction, but the man started spreading falsehoods again against the journalist to the administrator who the journalist by then did not know who is. From his first encounter with the man too, if he had insisted of knowing who the influential man was talking to, he would have tagged him again as challenging him. So, he kept quiet and tried to record what is happening. The gentleman who has been sent to call the journalist, told the influential man that: “He’s recording you again oh!” He rushed to snatch his phone, saying that he would let the police arrest him for recording him.

The administrator said that because of what has happened, the journalist should follow him to the CEO’s office to tell him what happened. The journalist first apologized to the CEO for the encounter between him and his staff. After that he told him exactly what happened. The CEO openly accepted that they partly contributed to what has happened between him and their staff. They should have written on the permission letter that, the bearer of this letter is given clearance to conduct his investigation so they should assist him. But, though the journalist has already apologized to the man, he should go again in the presence of his administrator to apologize to him. After that he should give the phone to his administrator.

The journalist went back to kneel down before him and apologized again despite the abused he has received from him. He said that the apology is accepted but he would not give his phone to him until he reports him to the police. After conveying the message back to the CEO, he personally called him with his phone to come to his office. When he was going to the CEO, they told the innocent journalist to wait outside. He did not know what happened inside, all of a sudden they took him to the police station and had him locked up.

They did not try to discover the truth by listening to what the journalist has recorded! At the police station too, they did not confirm what the influential man allegedly said against him by listening to the recordings. But they locked him up without even allowing him to write his statement first. When his family members went to bail him too, they were trying to create false impression about the journalist. The family members told him that the police were asking them and forcing them to accept that he is mentally sick, which they refused because know him very well.

Why do the police who were supposed to be neutral and rather defend this poor journalist, have special interest in the case and were trying to rather paint another false picture about him? Another revelation that was a sign of bias judgment is that; before the journalist could be bailed and allowed to go home, they told him to delete all the recordings that went on between him and the man before he writes his statement. After he deleted them, the CID in charge of his case threatened to take his figure prints if he did not comply with them and do whatever they say. This is completely wrong! Then why did you make him delete the only evidence that he could have used to defend himself in court?

To confirm whether what the man allegedly said about the investigator is true, they should have listened to the recordings; since he made reference to them. Right from the beginning he told the journalist that it is the reason why taking him to the police, and re-emphasized the same thing at the police station. But from the narration of the journalist, I suspected that after consultation with the police the man realized that if he should still keep on using the recordings as the reasons for arresting the journalist he would be guilty. So, they quickly changed the whole story lying that the journalist did not seek ethical approval from their facility before the investigation. How?

But this is why they quickly shifted their charge to falsely accusing him! Approval was given to the journalist and he was called by one of the secretaries of the CEO to come for their approval. She told him to see their research officer when he gets there. He went the following day and was directed to their research officer’s office at their public health unit. The research officer herself together with him went to see their Out Patient Department (OPD) in-charge and some nurses who were on duty and she did the introduction, using the ethical approval letter. But after the incidence happened, the CEO of the facility took that approval letter from the journalist with a promise to call him later when the wind settled.

The journalist did not breach any protocol! But when the man realized that he would entrap himself using the recordings, they quickly falsely accused him of unlawful entrance. How could he has unlawfully entered into their facility when he was called by the CEO’s secretary, was given ethical approval by the facility and was introduced by their facility’s research officer using the approval letter? Those recordings of the phone if not deleted could have proved that the man asked for the ethical clearance letter and it was given to him.

During the writing of the statement, the journalist was also threatened by the police CID who was supposedly in charge of his case. The CID told him that he has been told he is a very intelligent person who can write very well. Then he told him that the charge his accuser used against him, insisting that he should also give his statement with respect to what his accuser said. But that was a false accusation! That was not reason why the journalist was sent there! So, the journalist told the CID to write the statement himself for him according to how he wants it to be written, and he did.

From this true life story, it has become clear that probably because the man is rich or influential or because they already know him, they decided to throw justice to the dogs. The innocent journalist was rather locked up again, fined for no wrong doing. So, what this means is that; sometimes the fault might not be coming from the judge. The bias judgment by a Judge could be because, the truth about the case has already been covered up by the very people who are supposed to investigate that case.  

 

Testimonies by Other Victims

During the same period that this journalist went through all these ordeals, there were similar cases where some victims shared similar stories (Blind_Justice., 2021; Justice, 2021; Nana, 2021). In that same month there was news about kidnapping of a pregnant woman at Takoradi, ‘Taadi’ (Justice, 2021). The mother of this woman also accused the police for putting words into her daughter’s mouth, as she is being pressurized to admit to statements that are not true. Just a month after the investigator’s abused and false accusation, a man also openly confessed how his uncle hired him to assassinate someone. For the fact that his life is also at risk, he kept audio recordings of whatever interactions went between and his uncle and anyone that contacted with respect to the same issue. But at the police station, his uncle being an influential person has been to seal the lips of the police officers not to ask for the audio recordings that he had (Blind_Justice., 2021).

To be continued.

 

Understanding Sabotage, an Old Cancer Found in the Holy Books

Right from the time that Moses was conceived, even when he was not yet borne, King Pharaoh could not sleep (Exodus., 1:6-22. 1611. KJV). Those unborn children of the Israelites have nothing, but why was King Pharaoh threatened about them²²?

King Herod was also afraid of baby Jesus who the saboteurs always claimed, has nothing. But, why would someone who has nothing be a threat to you (Matthew., 2:1-16. KJV. 1611)? Just as King Pharaoh wanted Moses dead, so did King Herod wanted Jesus dead (Exodus., 1:6-22. 1611. KJV; Matthew., 2:1-16. KJV. 1611). But judging from the lives of these personalities of the Holy Bible, they were never a threat to anyone; they were rather offering solutions to world’s problems. It is a pity that now people worship in the same church and yet they are sabotaging themselves. It all always emanate from the fact that, the exceptional behavior or gift that one has is seen as a threat to others. Once you behave like this, you are not different from those who shouted: “Crucify him! Crucify him!” (Sullivan, 2015; Edersheim, 2010).

Pontius Pilate could have saved Jesus when he was convinced that he did nothing wrong to deserve death (Gers-Uphaus, 2020; Klein, 2019)! But, he became bias for fear of losing his crown, because he did not want to destroy relationship between him and Caesar (John 19:12), and finally because he wanted to please the Israelites.

 

Understanding How These Negatively Affect Trust in Our Police Service and the Judiciary?

To Be Continued.

 

My Recommendations

To Be Continued.