It was never a surprise whenever we were treated to all kinds of theatrics by then State House aide Kaizar Zulu those days. The people understood that behavior because we all knew his background before he came to the limelight.
However, the story is different today – the aides exhibiting the Kaizar Zulu manners are those whose professions demand a high level of integrity and decorum.
It’s shocking and unbelievable to see that some of the questionable deals and ‘orders’ coming from State House today are being done by someone who was trained to understand and uphold a high level of integrity, which is a revered virtue of the legal profession.
Some lie, some give orders and others make people pay to simply see the Head of State – very shameful things. It’s a pity that all these things are going on under the watchful eye of a legal advisor who must lead by example in upholding integrity, professionalism and accountability to the people whom they were appointed to serve.
May we remind you of the recent revelations contained in a report of Inspector General of Police Lemmy Kajoba who spilled more beans about the goings on at State House.
He revealed in that report how legal advisor to the President Christopher Mundia instructed that investigations into misappropriation of $15.5 million out of what was paid for the Ghanaian Former Expatriate Teachers Coordinating Committee should be suspended. The instruction was couched in such a way to give an impression that it was on presidential orders.
Mundia himself, through his law firm, benefitted from this money to the tune of K1.5 million and he is therefore is a suspect in the investigations. You now know why he quickly told the IG to suspend the investigations.
But we know that such behavior brings to question counsel’s integrity, which is at the core of law practice and must be strictly adhered to by every legal practitioner without exception. We know, and counsel Mundia knows, that any questionable behaviour by a legal practitioner is frowned upon by the law and such an individual is subjected to questioning by the Legal Practitioners Committee and later the Disciplinary Committee as the case may be.
Lying is nowhere near what is expected of legal practitioners and anyone who exhibits such behavior must be subjected to a strict process of professional scrutiny enshrined in the Legal Practitioners and Practice Rules of 2002.
This is done in the interest of preserving integrity, decorum and respect the profession must enjoy.
Integrity is an absolute necessity for a legal practitioner due to the nature of his responsibilities. He has duties to his client, duties to the Court of which he is an officer, duties to the public, and duties to his fellow practitioners.
As Alan K. Simpson said, “If you have integrity, nothing else matters. If you don’t have integrity, nothing else matters.”
All we can say for now is that some State House aides need prayers, and a lot of them for that matter. The disrespect to the President and the presidency is unbecoming and must not be allowed to continue.