Samson's Take: Dr. Otabil, tell me which politician or party isn't guilty of this offence?

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I love, like many Ghanaians, Dr. Mensah Otabil. No, I don't just enjoy his teachings, I learn and feel better empowered each time I listen to the wisdom God has endowed him. I have never disagreed with him. But today I want to disagree with the bit of his recent statement of truth. He desires and notes that a key part of what Ghana requires to lift itself from being a perennial underachiever, with small minded subsistence thinking citizens unable to grow businesses like Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, is for politicians to ensure a sane environment by legal regulation. The absence or lack of laws to regulate life isn't our problem. What area of life have we not, at least borrowed the beautiful laws of sane England to regulate? Sir, we even have a law on how to deal with mosquitoes. Our paid big men and women are currently busy lousily wasting our money fashioning out a law to compel us to do communal clean-up exercises when all that must be done is to simply enforce our laws that punish littering by up to 3,000.00 Cedis or three years in jail.

Let's talk about the election campaign gifts and donations, or bluntly put, those vote-buying bribes of cash, bags of rice, roofing sheets, food and drinks. I hear politicians proudly proclaim their ignorance or feign same that there is nothing wrong with such acts. Tell me which politician or party isn't guilty of these laws, or any memory of arrests and prosecutions for their breach. I reproduce only three sections of the Representation of the People Law, 1992 so you don't accuse me of interpreting them to suit my purpose:

Section 33—Bribery.

(1) A person commits the offence of bribery—

(a) if he directly or acting through another person—

(i) gives money or obtains an office for a voter in order to induce the voter to vote or refrain from voting; or

(ii) corruptly does such an act on account of a voter having voted or refrained from voting; or

(iii) makes a gift or provides something of value to a voter to induce the voter to vote in a certain way or to obtain the election of a candidate; or

(b) if he advances or pays money or causes money to be paid to or for the use of a person with the intent that the money or part of it shall be expended in bribery at an election, or knowingly pays money or causes money to be paid to a person in discharge or repayment of money wholly or in part expended in bribery at an election; or

(c) if before or during an election he directly or indirectly, by himself or through another person acting on his behalf, receives, agrees or contracts for money, gift, a loan or valuable consideration or an office, place or employment for himself or for another person for voting or agreeing to vote or for refraining or agreeing to refrain from voting; or

(d) if after an election he directly or through another person receives money or valuable consideration on account of a person having voted or refrained from voting or having induced another person to vote or to refrain from voting.

(2) For the purpose of subsection (1)—

(a) references to giving money include giving, lending, agreeing to give or lend, offering, promising and promising to procure or to endeavour to procure money or valuable consideration; and

(b) references to procuring office include giving, procuring, agreeing to give or procure, offering, promising and promising to procure or to endeavour to procure an office, place or employment.

Section 34—Treating.

A person commits the offence of treating—

(a) if he corruptly either himself or through another person, before, during or after an election gives or provides or pays wholly or in part the expenses of giving or providing meat, drink, entertainment or provision to or for any person—

(i) for the purpose of corruptly influencing that person or another person to vote or refrain from voting; or

(ii) on account of that person or another person having voted or refrained from voting or being about to vote or refrain from voting; or

(b) if he corruptly accepts or takes any meat, drink, entertainment or provision offered in the circumstances and for the purposes mentioned in paragraph (a) of this section.

Section 35—Undue Influence.

A person commits the offence of undue influence—

(a) if he directly or indirectly or through another person acting on his behalf—

(i) makes use of or threatens to make use of force, violence or restraint; or

(ii) inflicts or threatens to inflict on another person a temporal or spiritual injury, damage, harm or loss,

in order to induce or compel that person to vote or refrain from voting, or on account of that person having voted or refrained from voting; or

(b) if by abduction, duress or any fraudulent method he impedes or prevents the free exercise of the franchise of a voter.

Any of these offences is punishable by up to 6,000.00 Cedis or two years in jail, or both, plus five years disqualification as a voter.

Tell me we won't have a sane political campaigning if these laws were enforced against the very people who made them.

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