The grueling experience endured by Mr. Owusu Afriyie, General Secretary of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), popularly known as Sir John, before Ghana's highest court mid this week, for unsavoury remarks he's said to have made against Justice Atuguba, president of the supreme court panel hearing the election petition, has been lauded by many ordinary Ghanaians, who have been concerned about the deteriorating state of political discourse, in Ghana. Most of the Judges' fury - or to be more specific Justice Atuguba's indignation - was directed at the person of Sir John. And rightly so! After all, he was the one to have made that offensive statement, for which reason he was to face the wrath of the court by himself. However, given the rather mature and generic posture adopted by the eminent judges in using Sir John's case as a platform to caution all politicians in the country about their utterances, one would have thought that indeed ALL Ghanaian politicians, regardless of party affiliations, as well as social commentators. One would have thought that those whose past remarks have been judged by the public to have amounted to disrespect for authority or respected persons in society would have taken a cue from Sir John's humiliating experience and the warning issued from the bench to 'advice themselves' - in popular Ghanaian language. That is to say, bow their heads in shame and resolve to change their style and tome of public discourse. But looking at the reaction that has come from some of the very Ghanaian politicians and social commentators known in the public sphere to be equally culpable of making disdainful statements in the past, it is sad - and actually disturbing - to imagine that these same persons have, within a twinkle of an eye, have attained the moral high ground, chastising Sir John for the remarks he made and the party he belongs for failing to deal with him in time. This is a rather worrying phenomenon, to say the least. Please don't get me wrong. I do not have any problems with people calling for Sir John's resignation and criticizing the NPP for not reining in on what some have called 'the culture of extremism' creeping into the party. I do have, however, have a problem - and a BIG ONE, I must say - when some of the people making these calls have question marks on them as far as their public utterances is concerned. This is because it amounts to hypocrisy, and it is also an indication of their unrepentant heart. Now let's get into real stuff here. Let's do some reality check here to find out who has the right to be criticizing who. 1. Former President Rawlings We've all been in this country when former President Rawlings began his campaign of 'boom speeches', speeches that saw him severally insult the personality of his successor president Kufour. At least on one occasion, Mr. Rawlings compared former president Kufour - the highest public official in the land of Ghana - to the most notorious criminal in the country at the time, Ataa Ayie, in his infamous chanting 'Kufour nie Ataa Ayie nie', to the cheer and applause of NDC sympathizers. How did the NDC party react upon hearing this statement? What did individual members of the NDC party do? Only God knows! 2. Dr Kwabena Adjei The chairman of the NDC, Dr. Kwabena Adjei, can certainly not be excluded from those who have undermined the authority of the state through 'careless' statements. His infamous 2010 threat to 'purge the judiciary of corrupt judges' because his party in government was not getting the kind of rulings they wanted from the courts, adding that 'there are several ways of killing a cat', is yet to be condemned by his own party. In a rather surprising move, however, a sitting government minister at the time, in the person of Mr. Kobby Acheampong, then minister of tourism, justified Dr. Kwabena Adjei's comments and encouraged him not to cooperate with the police, were he to be invited to explain and justify that unfortunate statement. But today the same person is lambasting Sir John for his conduct and defending his use of 'Kokoase Kurasini' phrase, meaning an uncouth person, which he had used describe the person of Sir John some time ago. Yet he still finds nothing wrong with his party chairman's statement which threatened the judiciary in the land, which some believe amounted to treason, considering the PNDC's past treatment of judges. 3. Dr. Tony Aidoo Dr. Tony has, on several occasions, insulted Christians and Men of God in Ghana. On one occasion, he likened all tongue-speaking Christians to 'mad people'. At least on two occasions, he has attacked the personality of Dr. Mensah Otabil without any basis. On one occasion he said 'Mensah Otabil has no integrity'. More recently, he accused Dr. Otabil of being 'an opportunist who wants to subvert democratic governance'. This was because of Dr. Otabil's sin or crime of alerting his congregation and Christians regarding his sensing of a looming chaos in Ghana in the aftermath of the supreme court ruling on the election petition, and leading and admonishing same to pray for the peace of mother Ghana to avert what he said sensed in his spirit. These are serious unproven allegations that should not be expected from a sitting (and perhaps) senior government official like Dr. Tony Aidoo, even if he does not like the person of Dr. Otabil or hate Christianity for that matter. The point being made here is that he could have expressed his disagreements with Dr. Otabil without having to defame his personality. Similarly, he could have stated his lack of appreciation of why (some) Christians speak in tongues without denigrating them to the status of mad people.But what did his party or individual members of the party or the government or members of the government he was serving with do or say? Only God knows.