A Democracy Should Not Fear Its Opposition

A sitting Member of Parliament, Nana Agyei Baffour Awuah of Manhyia South, nearly arrested unlawfully within the walls of the High Court in Accra. The arresting officer did not produce any identification when asked, reason for the arrest not stated. The image is difficult to erase from memory.

Whatever one thinks of the case against him, a courthouse is the one place a citizen, and a lawyer for that matter, should feel safest from the coercive arm of the State. When that confidence is shaken, it is not only the MP who is diminished. It is all of us.

This is why Minority Leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin’s decision to take these concerns to the Christian Council of Ghana deserves more than a partisan shrug. He was careful, and correct, to say the Minority seeks no immunity from lawful investigation and will not defend impunity. That is the right position. No one should be above the law.

But the reverse must also hold. No one should be pursued because of their politics. The line between accountability and persecution is not a fine one. It is the difference between a functioning democracy and a performative one.

The Minority Leader’s specific complaints on the attempted illegal arrest on court premises, the warrant obtained by EOCO, the prolonged detention after the MP voluntarily presented himself are serious enough that they should not be left to duelling press statements. They demand answers from the institutions involved.

The Rule of Law is not a slogan for opposition parties out of power. It is the load-bearing wall of the Republic. Yesterday’s governing party is today’s opposition, and today’s opposition may govern tomorrow. Every precedent set now will be inherited. If state power is normalised as a weapon, it will eventually be turned on those who built it.

The Christian Council, which has long positioned itself as an independent voice of conscience, did well to invite this conversation. It now has a duty to follow through. Referring “substantive matters” to internal church bodies is a start, but the public deserves a clear moral verdict, not a filing cabinet.

Equally, the Government has an opportunity here. It can insist, publicly and convincingly, that its investigative agencies follow procedure without fear or favour and then prove it. Transparency is not a concession to the opposition. It is the price of legitimacy.

Ghana’s democracy has survived many tests. It will survive this one too, but only if institutions speak plainly and citizens refuse to look away.

As the Minority Leader put it, Ghana must always stand above all of us.

We agree. Now let the institutions prove it.