When doctors make mistakes, lives may potentially be at risk, when accountants commit fraud, auditors drag them to account, when students cheat, they face the possibility of expulsion and a ruined future if caught. When judges err in their verdicts, we have the right of appeal. But when the politicians wilfully cause losses, what happens is hue and cry, depending on which part of the divide one stands. The merit of the case itself and its implications are thrown to the dogs. Is it fair or not? Every society abhors willful negligence, ignorance, indifference and acts of corruption. It however seems to me that the scope of accountability is determined by the boundaries of the calling or profession we find ourselves in.
In an allegorical novella - Animal Farm: A Fairy Story - George Orwell rightly pointed out that; all animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others". When it comes to the society dealing with corrupt acts, the whip is cracked often at the level of one's standing in society.Just like Orwell's seven Commandments, corruption legislation worldwide are laws that are supposed to keep order and ensure elementary fairness in our dealings, application and allocation of public resources within the society. Several organisations have been founded aiming to champion this clarion ideal, one is even called Transparency. These regulations were and are designed to unite and protect all citizens together and prevent people in privileged positions from abusing their office to the disadvantage of the totality of humanity as it is common evil habit.
We must appreciate and understand that not only do leaders or people in privileged office commit or are prone to conduct themselves in a corruptible manner but also how wickedness, indifference, ignorance, greed and myopia on the part of the citizenry can destroy any possibility of a utopia. There is no gainsaying the truism that corrupt leadership is a flaw in in our basic political organisation as a society, it is also a fact that our ignorance and indifference to problems of corruption within our environment could allow horrors to happen.
Ghana has a law that is called 'willfully causing financial loss to the state'. This law was promulgated with the aim to curb the excesses of those entrusted with the responsibility of making decisions on behalf of the people. A few culprits who made reckless decisions that cost the Ghanaian tax payer millions of dollars have been caught in its web. The hue and cry that fellow politicians made, has virtually rendered that significant piece of law mere paper-tiger. I thought all along that this trend is only akin to Ghanaian politicians but wait a minute. I was provoked into writing this piece when I listened to a news item on BBC a couple of minutes ago. It was about the trial and sentencing of a former Prime Minister of Ukraine, Yulia V. Tymoshenko, over a gas deal with Russia in 2009.
A Ukrainian judge sentenced the former Prime Minister to seven years in jail for abusing her powers in a 2009 gas deal with Russia and ordered her to personally cover losses of $190 million. The court ruled that Tymoshenko intentionally used her powers to criminal ends and that the 10-year contract had created heavy losses for Ukraine. the judge said Tymoshenko had brought about a loss to state gas firm Naftogaz of 1.5 billion hryvnia ($190.74m) by approving the 10-year contract. "Y.V. Tymoshenko . . . used her official powers to criminal ends and, acting consciously, committed actions which clearly exceeded her rights and powers which had heavy consequences". The verdict was in line with the demand of prosecutors, who wanted a sentence of seven years. Prosecutors said Tymoshenko had not been authorised to order the signing of the contract and that the price for natural gas she agreed to was too high, causing losses to the state budget.
Tymoshenko said that as a Prime Minister, she did not need any special permission to sign the deal. She said her actions helped end a bitter pricing dispute between Moscow and Kiev, which had led to energy supply shortages across Europe.
The thrust of this piece is not about the merit of the judgement, I am interested in the reaction of politicians within and without Ukraine to the verdict and subsequent sentencing.
The former Orange Revolution leader, Tymoshenko immediately denounced the verdict that she said was ordered by President Viktor Yanukovych (her opponent, the devil's advocate). "We will fight and defend my good name in the European court,we have to be strong and defend Ukraine from authoritarianism," Tymoshenko is reported to have said.
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| Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko speaks during her trial at the Pecherskiy District Court in Kyiv on October 11. Tymoshenko was found guilty of abuse of office and sentenced to seven years in jail, in a trial widely condemned in the West as politically motivated(Efrem Lukatsky/Associated Press) |
EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton warned that the conviction would severely jeopardise Ukraine's hopes of signing an association agreement with the European Union this year that would be a first step towards its goal of joining the 27-member bloc.The way Ukraine handled these cases "risks having profound implications for the EU-Ukraine bilateral relationship, including for the conclusion of the Association Agreement, our political dialogue and our co-operation more broadly". Ukraine had hoped the accord - including a free trade deal - would be signed off in December.
Can you now see how the attitude of the politicians changes when it comes to the application of the laws on wilfully causing financial loss to the state against themselves? Who do they conceive to be their victims when they enact laws? Who are the criminals? Criminals are born so, it is the unfair environment that cause them to be what we call criminals. From the former Prime Minister's own point of view, the verdict 'was ordered by President Viktor Yanukovych'. In other words, politically motivated. Talk is cheap. She is not examining the merits or otherwise of the judge's reasons (this brings to memory the bastardization of Judge Kwame Afreh)adduced for the verdict and conviction. The EU official points out the concern over implications for bilateral relationships' not the cause of the ordinary tax payer.
All the animals work, but the workhorse, Boxer, does more than others and adopts the maxim — "I will work harder." Remember people are responsible for their own actions. Politics should not be used as a cover up for our mistakes or inadvertent actions. The masses who are the ultimate victims of these acts should not allowed themselves to be used for populist purposes. The emphasis should be on the word wilful and the law should be allowed to take its nature course. No one must be considered as above the law. Irrespective of one's status and background, we must apply the law according to its letter and spirit. The truth stands but it is time that is the best judge. Time will tell.
