Chairman of the National Peace Council, Rev. Emmanuel Asante, says the video by Anas Aremeyaw Anas on the alleged 34 corrupt judges shows Ghana is "rotten, torn apart and smelly".
He said this after he saw the three-hour video titled 'Ghana in the eyes of God', showing how judges, magistrates and other officials of various courts across the country allegedly sold justice for cash, goats, sheep and yam.
Rev. Asante was part of thousands of Ghanaians, including the Attorney-General Marietta Brew Appiah-Oppong and other dignitaries who were at the premiering of the video that some of the alleged corrupt judges tried to place an injunction on.
"It is painful watching men and women charged to protect our rights comprise themselves with such careless abandon. This clearly shows how our own doings has made this country rotten and smelly," he told Adom News.
He noted that it is a shame to see how judges have become slaves to money and have therefore created a systemic corruption across the courts of the country.
"This is what we have seen and it shows that this is just the tip of the iceberg because it tells you corruption has eaten to the very core of our society and we need to wake up as a people and do something about it," he said.
The National Peace Council Chair was however happy that not all the judges in the video have bowed to money. He said the few judges who refused to take bribes and actually threatened to the cause the arrest of the ‘bribe givers’ represent the hope that all is not lost yet.
Rev. Asante commended Anas for the taking the risk to expose the rot in the judiciary and in other facets of the society. He challenged all Ghanaians to emulate his example and be committed to taking the risk to fight corruption.
"This is not the first time Anas has done this - it is risky to fight corruption but he continues to defy the risk - what about the rest of us? What can we also do to help clean our country of the systemic rot?" he asked.
He urged the Judicial Council to deal decisively with those found culpable in the video to deter others from committing similar acts.
Meanwhile, there was a near stampede at the entrance of the main hall of the Accra International Conference Centre – venue of the video – as the crowd tried to enter for the second show.
Ticketing officials were overwhelmed and loads of people had to enter without showing their tickets because the crowd was just too much for them to handle.
The ticketing officials tried to close the door and check tickets but the ecstatic crowd virtually pushed them off and entered the hall to secure seats. The auditorium was packed to capacity, with extra seats provided.
Audience were awed by one display of corruption after another, from judges and court officials in the northern part of the country to the south - some of them accepting money, goats, sheep and yam in their homes, offices and in their cars to alter judgements.
Some were actually caught on cameras half naked, as they wore only shorts when they met their bribe givers.
Some of the audience got tired of the repetitive display of the faces of the alleged corrupt judges and they left, leaving quite a significant number of empty seats in the hall.
<<Print>>