By Abdul Razak Bawa

Exactly four years today, the curtains in a Hollywood style fell on the life of Ahmed Hussein Suale. Until his timely assassination, he worked with the Tiger Eye PI, headed by Anas Armeyaw Anas.

Typical of a country that does not have respect for life, his murder is gradually being added to the long list of murders, that have remained unresolved.

Ahmed Suale, died in the service of a nation he loved so much, until his last breath he worked at making this country a better place for his children, my children and the children, as well as the grandchildren of those whose responsibility it is to apprehend the perpetrators of this heinous crime.

He can be regarded as one of the few men of honour, who sacrificed his time, resources and eventually his life to ensure that, the resources that were meant for all of us, will not be appropriated by some few greedy men.

After his murder, characteristics of our politicians, pledges upon pledges were made, crocodile tears were shed, the police were tasked to do everything possible to bring the perpetrators to justice and then nothing is heard from them again.

Despite all the grief that attended  Ahmed Suale’s killing, it has been a case of old habits die hard. The state after four years is still chasing the perpetrators and am sure his file is gathering dust at the Police Criminal Investigation Department (CID).

Last year, president Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, under whose watch this happened and will be one of the incidents that will define his presidency, long after he has finished serving his term, reiterated the call to get justice for Ahmed Suale.

“I continue to be deeply regretful that despite the unseasoned best effort of the police, the perpetrators of the murder of Ahmed Suale can still not be found. But I assure you that, so far as I remain President, the dossier cannot be closed until they are brought to justice.”

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has assured the families of Ahmed Suale and the media fraternity of his resolve to find the killers of the investigative journalist.

He said, so long as he remains in office, the perpetrators of the heinous crime will be brought to book.

President Akufo-Addo said this while addressing journalists at a dinner organized by the Ghana Journalists Association in Accra.

The comments of the president, was in response to an earlier appeal made by former president John Dramani Mahama, when the leadership of the GJA called on him in October two months before meeting Akufo-Addo, so his so-called assurance is nothing but a postmortem response to the former president.

In his comment John Mahama said “For some time, there’s been concerns that the Association had become a bit docile in terms not only of safeguarding the media space but also in terms of defending its members when they come under attack from the work that they do.

“Of course one of your own, paid the ultimate price, Ahmed Suale and as of now there still doesn’t seem to be any movement in apprehending the people who assassinated him in such cold blood and I think that is something that you must not sleep on. You must continue to fight to make sure that whoever were responsible for that murder, you know, are brought to book.”

Although, these statements by the two foremost persons in the country, are reassuring, it is not the first time it has been made and will certainly not be the last. It will be repeated this year, during the celebration of the media freedom day.

Frankly, the finality of his exit to eternity is yet to sink in just as we try to adjust to the reality that he is gone to be with his Maker whom he served to the best of his ability during his earthly sojourn.

Five years after his murder, the work he dedicated himself to is alive, well and growing to greater strength, with more expose’.

If the intention of those who masterminded the heinous crime was to shut like-minded persons like him, they have failed, because his death had awoken a spirit of resilience in people who shared his belief.

Ahmed Suale, like many people whose lives were cut short by unrepentant miscreants deserve justice and as a nation, we can’t deny them that. Ahmed in the course of his career , was of the strong conviction that, he was helping sanitize his country and weed out those who seek to profit at the expense everyone else.

He put his life on the line and sacrifice his comfort and that of his family, with the mistaken belief that, should something happen to him, his country will not go to sleep but everything humanly possible will be done to ensure he gets justice.

It would be oddly fitting, if by now at least the gentlemen who took his life are on trial to answer for their crime, but to think that, four years after his murder, not a single person is standing trial.

We can all pretend to play the Ostrich, as we have done in the past, we can all continue to behave like that, child who will cry when something of his is taken away from him and keeps quiet when it is returned, this unfortunate attitude where we all pretend to care and be concern when something happens and yet it only takes two weeks and we are back to where we were, with something else to talk about or be concerned about.

In this country, it is each for himself and God for us all. It is a monumental achievement, for someone to live in Ghana of today, and still retain his sanity. More so, when the person is patriotic and wants to contribute his quota, to move this country forward.

Now, let’s face it. Ghana is a country where lawlessness seems to be the “operating law”, even though there is an operating code of governance called ‘the 1992 constitution’.

We know longer operate with the common law that checks and streamline our behavior but rather the rule of men. All one has to do to escape a crime or be protected is for the person to be highly connected or politically aligned.

They is a general crime and political crime in this country, it is obvious the inability of the police to bring the killers of Ahmed Suale to justice is because they is a big man somewhere, whose hands is soiled in the matter.

While, I join the family in celebrating the four years of his murder, I wish to remind president Akufo-Addo, his minister of Interior, Attorney General and Minister of Justice and the Inspector General of Police (IGP), who is also a friend of the media, to as a matter of urgency find the killers of Ahmed Suale and bring them to justice.

Ahmed Suale’s case is even more blood-chilling, because he was shot and killed when he was called home that his child was not feeling well.

We now live in a country that has lost its soul.

The murder of Ahmed Hussein Suale, should not drag unnecessarily. The earlier the killers are found, the better for all of us, until then his murder will haunt our collective conscience.

Email: [email protected]