While condemning corruption, Jaye Gaskia questions the government's authoritarian methods used this past weekend to arrest judges suspected of corruption.
There a few things about the emerging situation that I am concerned about. And in raising those concerns it is necessary to be clear on a number of things:
First, is there corruption in the Judiciary as there is in each of the other arms of government? Absolutely YES.
Is any officer in any arm of the government and at whatever tier no matter how highly placed, above the law? And immune from Criminal Investigation? Absolutely NOT.
For the avoidance of doubt, only the President, Vice President, Governors and the Deputies are criminally excluded from prosecution by the immunity clause. The implication of this is that every official of state can be investigated for criminal offenses, and all of them with the exception of those listed above can be tried and prosecuted.
Can valid search warrants be executed in the cause of an investigation? Absolutely YES. Is forced entrance permissible in the cause of executing a valid search warrant where the suspect is uncooperative? Again YES.
But having said this, there is the issue around the method. What is the role of the DSS in all of this? Why the persistent use of the DSS which should be concerned with state security in civil criminal cases? Cases which fall within the mandate of the Police? Why is the regime hell bent on undermining rather than strengthening legitimate institutions of the state? Why the preference for DSS and not the Police? Why not establish a special division of the police and train and equip them to undertake investigation and prosecution of politically exposed high officials of the state?
What was the hurry in barging in Gestapo style in the middle of the night? Couldn't a surveillance team have kept vigil until early morning when the search warrant can then be executed, and by the Police?
Given the internal procedures of the Judiciary and its autonomy as an arm of government, to what extent what the hierarchy and the institutions of the Judiciary carried along?
Should we be demanding unconditional release of suspected thieves? Or should we be demanding that they be arraigned immediately within the ambit of the law?
My most important worry, however, is the way and manner that the near total self-compensation of the ruling elites in all arms of government is leading us to a situation where a populist regime, that is in reality anti-people, is gradually consolidating its unrelentless March Towards a Creeping Authoritarianism.
The question before us, with respect to the approach of this government is not a Black And White Contrast. In other for us to be able to navigate the maze successfully without putting chains ourselves on our arms and legs, we must explore the entire color spectrum between Black And White.
This is the challenge that confronts us.
We must fight corruption mercilessly, relentlessly, but we must also ensure that in doing that we do not erect around ourselves a prison that cages us in and makes it costly or impossible for us to legitimately challenge the government and confront policies that drag us as a people deeper into poverty, or that places the yoke of the recession on our bent backs.
Dialectics, Comrades, Dialectics. What we need now more than ever are Revolutionaries and Active Citizens, who are also Dialecticians.
