Tsatsu Tsikata, former CEO of
GNPC has recalled how he rejected a presidential pardon by former
President John Agyekum Kufuor on his last day as President of Ghana.
Tsikata explained to KSM on the
KSM show broadcast Tuesday that he wanted to pursue justice in the court of law
to be cleared from the charge of wilfully causing financial loss to the state.
Tsikata wrote a two-page letter
to President Kufuor on January 6, 2009, at a time he had suffered an asthmatic
attack in prison and had been admitted at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital,
rejecting the presidential pardon.
“I have never sought, and I do
not need your pretence of mercy. Justice is my quest and I will pursue this
quest in accordance with the constitution and laws of Ghana,” Tsikata wrote in
ink.
“Your apparent exercise of the
presidential prerogative of mercy in respect of a conviction and imprisonment
which you were the prime mover of is the height of hypocrisy.”
He continued: “The desecration
of justice that was perpetrated against me in the Fast-Track High Court on June
8, 2008, was at your instance, initiated in 2001 with your first
Attorney-General, Nana Akufo-Addo. Nothing can divert attention from the
responsibilities of the judges before whom my appeal and other legal processes
are currently pending concerning my case.
Indeed, your action in these
final hours of your administration improperly interferes with these judicial
processes and is clearly in bad faith. Your participation, indeed, your leading
role in desecrating justice, not only in relation to me but in many other
cases, are part of your legacy as President of Ghana,” he stressed.
Quoting Psalm 94 verse 15, Tsikata further told Kufuor:
“Justice will again be found in the courts, and all righteous people will
support it.”
Thirteen years on, Tsatsu
Tsikata recalls to KSM: “I think I said it nicely. I wrote him a letter on
my hospital [bed] and I said I will not accept his pardon; and I wouldn’t
accept it. By then, I already had an appeal pending against the decision that
had been taken. I wanted to be vindicated, not pardoned. When you are pardoned
it means that your conviction still stands but the penalty has been wiped
away.”
After eight years of legal
battle, Tsatsu Tsikata was cleared of the charges and the conviction
reversed unanimously by the Court of Appeal, which acquitted and discharged
him.
Justice Dennis Adjei said there
was a miscarriage of justice when an Accra Fast Track High Court on June 18,
2008, found him guilty on three counts of wilfully causing financial loss of
GH¢230,000 to the state and another count of misapplying public property.
Expressing delight at the
overturned verdict, Tsikata quoted Psalm 94:15 “Justice will again be found in
the courts, and all righteous people will support it ” and emphasised that
indeed “justice has been found in the courts”.
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