Emile Short Commission A ‘Grand Concert’ – Franklin Cudjoe

IMANI Africa President, Franklin Cudjoe, does not expect any significant impact from the work of the Emile Short Commission.

He described the commission’s probe of the Ayawaso West Wuogon by-election violence as a concert in remarks on Citi FM/Citi TV‘s news analysis programme, The Big Issue on Saturday.

“What we saw, what we’ve heard so far is one grand concert and there is a lot more because, at the end of the day, we are just going to be discussing this matter,” he said

Central to his concerns is the fact that the findings of the commission will not result in any prosecution.

“Where acts of crime may have been committed, there must be some responsibility. If the commission says persons who will come and give these pieces of evidence, they will be absorbed of any form of punishment, then I ask myself, to what end?”

Already, proceedings in the commission have highlighted lapses in security protocol and the lack of coordination between security agencies.

DSP George Lysander Asare, the East Legon District Police Commander, for example, noted that the scene of the confusion wasn’t properly processed as a crime scene and evidence mishandled.

“It is just an attestation to the fact that we play too much with serious matters of policy and in this instance, the security architecture we do have. Maybe it is a semblance of grand concerts which [we] keep playing,” Mr. Cudjoe remarked.

“For me, what I see confirms the fact that we have never had coherence in policy making in most of our national lives and security is one of them.”

He also noted that the issue of political vigilantism was not adequately addressed.