Posted: Daily Guide |www.dailyguideghana.com
Saturday, 09 October 2010
By Charles Takyi-Boadu
THE CASE of 39 year old construction supervisor, Pierce Tay in which he was verbally and physically abused and assaulted by a project manager of the World Food Programme (WFP) under the United Nations Humanitarian Depot (UNHRD), Jimmy Green may be one of several which go unheard in the workings of the diplomatic community.
It also raises questions over how some foreign diplomats take undue advantage of their ‘diplomatic immunity’ to perpetrate all sorts of inhumane things against their Ghanaian hosts.
Somewhere last year, specifically April 28, 2009, Green who used to work under the WFP Depot Manager in Ghana, Martin Walsh was said to have made very despicable and racial comments against Pierce who was then supervising the construction of a UNHRD depot at the project site near the Kotaka International Airport in Accra referring to him as a “black monkey.”
It did not end there; he was also alleged to have used words such as stupid and idiot on his victim and eventually said “even animals are better than you” and proceeded to physically attack him.
Obviously offended by the use of such disparaging words on him, Pierce lodged a complaint with the Airport police who issued him with a hospital form to go for treatment.
Subsequently the police arrested Green and questioned him about the issue which he denied in his caution statement.
The police thus granted him bail with the WFP Depot Manager, Martin Walsh standing as the surety and Green being asked to report to the police periodically.
On several occasions, Green failed to honour his commitment to report to the police and when the police managed to reach Walsh (the surety) for him to produce the suspect, he had the guts to tell the police he was not answerable to them but the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and thus asked the police to contact the Ministry if they needed him for any reason.
These were all contained in a police report filed by the Airport District Police Commander, Superintendent A. Ofosu Ackah dated July 8, 2009.
Later, a hospital report from the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital and signed by one Dr Daniel Lamptey on February 26, 2010 indicated that Pierce was first seen at the accident and trauma centre of the hospital on March 24, 2009 “with a history of inability to walk, abrasions and swelling on both knees as a result of an assault by a fellow worker.”
The injuries he sustained included abrasions on both knees, swelling at both knees and what the doctor said was a slight shift of the left knee cap.
It was later learnt that Walsh had managed to arrange for Green to sneak out of the country to Ireland in order not face prosecution since indications were that he was not covered by ‘diplomatic immunity’.
A Non Governmental Organisation (NGO), the Progressive Nationalists Forum (PNF) which has Richard Kwesi Nyamah as its spokesman took the issue up and wrote two separate letters to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Alhaji Mohammed Mumuni for him to take action in the case but has since not heard from his office.
It later wrote to the WFP head office in Rome, Italy who promised to investigate the issue but has since not heard from them three months down the line.
Meanwhile, the PNF says it has received a complaint to the effect that Mr. Walsh had illegally connected electricity to his residence.
It thus managed to secure a copy of a debtor’s ledger on Walsh’s electricity meter from the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) which confirmed the report.
For this reason, a Ghanaian house help at Walsh’s residence was sacked on suspicion that she might have leaked the information about the illegal connection.
PNF thus reported the issue of the lady’s involvement to the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) since it thought it was an abuse of her fundamental rights considering the fact that she was only paid a month’s salary when she was sacked but CHRAJ indicated that they could not handle the case due to Walsh’s diplomatic immunity.
The Labour Commission also said same when PNF petitioned it to take action on the lady’s plight.
Meanwhile, the poor and innocent lady who was sacked by Walsh and his wife for supposedly leaking information about the illegal connection is struggling to cater for her daughter who attends one of the universities in the country.
She thus wants the authorities to take up the issue to enable her take care of her daughter.