https://www.myjoyonline.com/mental-assassins-medicinal-ablution-and-marital-annulment-weekly-wrap-up-from-the-morning-man/-------https://www.myjoyonline.com/mental-assassins-medicinal-ablution-and-marital-annulment-weekly-wrap-up-from-the-morning-man/

Last day of July. I can hardly believe we have only five months of 2015 left.  And this last week of July has been very memorable - not all for the right reasons though.

On Monday morning we all learnt about how a strange man walked into John Mahama's church, armed with a home-made gun, and bent on shooting the President.

Luckily, POG wasn't in church that day, and security forces picked up on his weird behaviour and arrested him. The man's name was Charles Antwi, and the BNI immediately locked him up and started investigations.

On Tuesday, a rather disturbing story came to light, regarding GB Pharmaceutical, an Indian-owned drug company which had allegedly been drying out drugs and medical supplies that were damaged in the June 3 floods, and repackaging them for sale to the unsuspecting public.

Joy News' Fred Smith uncovered this disturbing activity following a tip-off, and the FDA stepped in swiftly to shut down the operation while investigations continue. If you ask me, this is just another illustration of upside-down Ghana, where the cops rob you, the public servants punish you, and the medicine harms you.

Wednesday brought us all back to the curious case of the President's would-be assassin. Less than 48 hours after he committed the crime, Charles Antwi was found guilty and sentenced to ten years in prison. This swift sentencing raised a few eyebrows - especially since the man's behaviour was clearly unusual, and … well … not consistent with sanity.

I spoke to the man's mother on the day of his sentencing, and she told me her son was mentally ill. People in the community where he lived and worked for some time as a taxi driver, all confirmed that he was known to have been treated for mental illness, and they all told stories of his strange behaviour.

Later, we heard from Antwi's brother in Accra, who confirmed Charles had been treated for mental illness. More interestingly, he also said the BNI had investigated this, and had gone to the Hospital where he was treated for evidence of his illness.

Strangely, none of this was mentioned in court, which is very significant, because in order for a person to be guilty of a crime, they must be able to form what our legal friends call Mens Rea, or "a guilty mind".  Was this the case in the Charles Antwi affair?

I also caught a glimpse of Charles Antwi's charge sheet - the document based on which the Prosecution would make their case in court. The sheet - signed by the investigating officer, Inspector Abaalug-Ba Baba, ended with this sentence:

"It is therefore our prayer that accused be remanded into BNI custody to assist further investigation."

This is exactly what the prosecution asked for when they turned up in court for what ordinarily may have been a preliminary hearing. In spite of this, and in spite of the irrational ranting of the accused, who was not represented by a lawyer, the judge ended up passing a sentence of ten years for illegal possession of a firearm.

Why did the judge not grant the investigators' request for more time to look into the matter? Why did he not insist a psychiatric evaluation of the obviously imbalanced Antwi? Why did he allow the mentally handicapped accused to defend himself? Why did he not hasten slowly, when he realised that the man kept changing his plea? And why did he hand down a ten-year sentence for a crime which - according to sentencing guidelines - should attract at worst, five years and a fine? What was Justice Francis Obiri thinking, and why?

Anyway, that was Wednesday.

Thursday brought us another fascinating hotline documentary on divorce in Ghana. I was once again reminded of the irony of a society that fights to keep gay people away from the institution of marriage for the sake of keeping it sacred, while straight people are busy doing all kinds of terrible things to desecrate the institution of marriage. What was once a sacred thing between a man and a woman is now a hastily entered and easily reversed and discarded arrangement, not much more sacred than a Facebook status.

Then again, others argue that if you find yourself with the wrong person and are looking ahead at a lifetime of misery, why stay in it just to be polite. Whichever view you subscribe to, one thing is for certain: times have really changed.

Anyway, it's Friday, and we're ending the week with an election. Imagine you had a ballot paper, and you had to pick either John Jerry Rawlings, John Agyekum Kufuor, John Atta-Mills or John Dramani Mahama for President. Who would you pick, and why? The poll is still open on myjoyonline.com, so go cast your vote, and we'll announce the winner on today's Super Morning Show.

My name is Kojo Yankson, and it's been a week of Mental Assassins Medicinal Ablution and Marital Annulment.

GOOD MORNING, GHANAFO!

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DISCLAIMER: The Views, Comments, Opinions, Contributions and Statements made by Readers and Contributors on this platform do not necessarily represent the views or policy of Multimedia Group Limited.



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