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Last week�s decision of the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Mrs. Betty Mould-Iddrisu, to file a nolle prosequi to discontinue the prosecution of five soldiers of the 64 Infantry Regiment of the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) for their alleged involvement in the murder of a former Deputy Managing Director of the Ghana Commercial Bank (GCB), Mr. Rokko Frimpong in June 2007, did not surprise The New Crusading GUIDE. It was predictable and inevitable from Day one! The signs were too clear to the trained and discerning mind and eye that the State had embarked upon a wild goose chase when Ghanaians were told that the five soldiers had been arrested and detained pending investigations into their alleged involvement in the murder of Mr. Rokko Frimpong, at the instance of a superior officer who was in turn contracted by some former top governmental officials who wanted Mr. Frimpong dead, because of fear that he (Frimpong) might blow the whistle on them for some undisclosed criminal activity in connection with the 2007 redenomination exercise. There appeared to be a spirited and determined effort by the powers-that-be to give credence to the pre-2008 election campaign propaganda that the murder of Mr. Rokko Frimpong was a �contract killing� perpetrated by some powerful forces in the society. Indeed Candidate Mills, NDC Founder, J.J. Rawlings and many pro-NDC media outlets sang the song of �Contract Killing� in connection with Mr. Rokko Frimpong�s murder and used it in their campaign against the then ruling NPP. It was within this context that former PRESIDENT RAWLINGS WAS QUICK TO ISSUE A STATEMENT WELCOMING THE ARREST AND DETENTION OF THE FIVE SOLDIERS FOR THE ALLEGED MURDER OF MR. FRIMPONG AT A TIME WHEN NO OFFICIAL STATEMENT HAD BEEN ISSUED TO THAT EFFECT. MR. RAWLINGS SIMPLY RELIED ON MERE MEDIA REPORTS AND YET CLAIMED VINDICATION OF HIS LONG-HELD VIEW THAT THE NPP ADMINISTRATION OF J.A. KUFUOR WAS MADE UP OF �MURDERERS AND CRIMINALS�. Subsequently, State prosecutors on behalf of the Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, added to the effect, when they announced in court that the five soldiers were being held in custody for their alleged role in the murder of Mr. Frimpong at the behest of an unidentified Superior Officer who had contracted them to undertake that job, allegedly on behalf of some unnamed former top government officials. (See Daily Graphic & Ghanaian Times, December 19, 2009). In spite of the determined effort to forge a credible picture for the State�s posture and actions, the loopholes were too glaring to be ignored. WHILE THE STATE SOUGHT TO PROSECUTE THE FIVE SOLDIERS FOR THE MURDER OF MR. FREMPONG, IT IGNORED THE FACT THAT ANOTHER SET OF SUSPECTS (CIVILIANS) HAD ALREADY BEEN INVESTIGATED AND CHARGED BY THE GHANA POLICE AND HAD BEEN FACING PROSECUTION IN THE COURTS BEFORE THE ADVENT OF THE MILLS ADMINISTRATION. As if the parallel prosecution of two different sets of suspects or accused persons in the courts for the same offence was not troubling and perplexing enough, the State began the whole process of the arrest and detention of the five soldiers on a false note. When the spouses of the detained soldiers filed a habeas corpus for their husbands to be produced before a court of competent jurisdiction for the authorities to explain the rationale for their husbands� detention for over 48 hours instead of the constitutionally stipulated 458 hours, the State Prosecutors told the court that the five soldiers had initially been arrested and detained by the Military Police and kept in custody for that long because the Military Police Authorities did not know that the laws of the land (Constitution) did not permit that! This intriguing and pathetic rationalisation was offered in spite of the hard fact that the Armed Forces Act, 1962 (Armed Forces Regulations � Section 79) does not allow the Armed Forces to �TRY ANY PERSON CHARGED WITH THE OFFENCE OF MURDER, RAPE AND MANSLAUGHTER, COMMITTED IN GHANA�. Assuming without admitting that the five soldiers had indeed been arrested on suspicion of murder of Mr. Frimpong by the Military Police, THE LATTER WAS OBLIGED TO HAND THEM OVER TO THE APPROPRIATE CIVIL AUTHORITIES, IN THIS PARTICULAR INSTANCE, THE GHANA POLICE, FOR FURTHER ACTION. THE MILITARY POLICE AND/OR BNI HAD NO MANDATE TO DETAIN THEM FOR OVER 400 HOURS WITHOUT THE AUTHORITY OF A COURT OF COMPETENT JURISDICTION WHICH IS WHAT REALLY HAPPENED UNTIL THE SPOUSES OF THE FIVE SOLDIERS FILED THEIR HABEAS CORPUS WRIT. That obviously inept rationalisation only went to reinforce the earlier reports that the five soldiers were originally arrested and detained by operatives of National Security in mid November, 2009 on suspicion of �subversive activities� which also turned out to be a hoax. Hence the need to look for an excuse for unduly holding them in unlawful detention for 485 hours. AFTER THE ABYSMAL FAILURE TO PROCEED ON THE PREMISE OF �SUBVERSION�, THE DECISION WAS TAKEN TO OPT FOR THE OFFENCE OF MURDER; A HIGH-PROFILE MURDER; A POLITICALLY MOTIVATED �CONTRACT KILLING� OF A FORMER DEPUTY MANAGING DIRECTOR OF THE NATION�S PREMIER COMMERCIAL BANK, MR. ROKKO FRIMPONG. THE IDEA WAS TO GIVE CREDENCE TO THE PRE-2008 ELECTION CAMPAIGN PROPAGANDA NONSENSE. THE FACT THAT SUCH AN IDEA WAS STILLBORN OR DEAD AT BIRTH WAS STRANGELY LOST ON THE �BRAINS� BEHIND THE WHOLE EXERCISE! INCREDIBLE! PATHETIC!! SIMPLY INCOMPETENT!!! Everything which happened in court since the State was compelled to bring its case into the open in the wake of the habeas corpus application filed by the spouses of the five soldiers, including the �discovery� of the �killer bullet� pointed to the futility and ineptitude of the State�s case from the very beginning and it is amazing why nobody within the AG�s Department could predict the shameful outcome as announced last week. A SIMPLE COMPARISON OF NOTES OR PROCESS OF CO-ORDINATION BETWEEN THE ARRESTING AGENCIES, THE AG�S OFFICE AND THE POLICE CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIONS DEPARTMENT (CID) FROM THE VERY BEGINNING WOULD HAVE PREVENTED THE TRAGIC COMEDY THAT THE NATION HAD BEEN TREATED TO BY THE POWERS-THAT-BE, IN THEIR DESPERATE, VICIOUS ATTEMPT TO POLITICISE THE UNFORTUNATE MURDER/DEATH OF MR. ROKKO FRIMPONG AND SEEK SCAPEGOATS WHERE THEY DO NOT EXIST. THE EXISTENCE OF A CASE DOCKET ON THE ROKKO FRIMPONG MURDER WOULD HAVE BEEN MADE KNOWN TO THE AG AND THE NONSENSE OF THE DISCOVERY OF A �KILLER BULLET� WOULD HAVE BEEN AVOIDED. In conclusion, one would have thought that the AG, after having �burnt� her fingers in this sordid saga, would let sleeping dogs lie, and leave the five soldiers in peace and tranquility. But no. she cunningly provides the State with a face-saving route out of its self-inflicted injury by indicating in the official release announcing the nolle prosequi, that the BNI had been directed to continue with its investigation into the alleged role of the five soldiers in the 2007 redenomination exercise. This is an attempt to create the impression that the State after all had a reason for initially arresting, detaining, investigating and prosecuting the five innocent soldiers in the first place! Our usually reliable sources within the AG�s Department have informed us that when the Superior Officer (identity withheld) was invited for interrogation, he was rather questioned about use of public funds and possible financial loss to the State! From subversion to Murder to Financial Loss, and may be now, to undermining of the Re-denomination Exercise in 2007 whatever that means! It was a wild goose chase for �proof� of a politically motivated or orchestrated �Contract-Killing� which never was. Unfortunately, in the process, the human rights and possibly the promising careers of some law-abiding citizens of the land, have been unduly violated and hurt on the altar of political witch hunt and vendetta. Re-Published elsewhere in today�s edition is the very first story on the saga carried in The New Crusading GUIDE of November 24, 2009. That publication was roundly condemned by pro-NDC political and media circles. We wonder what they may say after the AG�s decision to file a nolle prosequi to discontinue the prosecution of the five soldiers but continue with that of the first set of Suspects/Accused? In addition to that we re-produce a story filed by the State-owned Daily Graphic on the same matter on December 19, 2009. God bless our homeland Ghana!