Sustainable rehabilitation needed for June 3 victims – Justice Dotse
Justice Jones Dotse, a Justice of the Supreme Court, has said victims of the “June 3 Disaster” who left behind families and those who survived but are currently facing challenges must be adequately rehabilitated.
He said this during the launch of the OneGhana Movement adding that the Movement was in the right direction and called on the public to support the effort.
The One Ghana Movement is a thought leadership and social not-for–profit organisation that seeks to promote citizens responsibility, the prioritization of the national interest over partisan politics and promotion of public policy accountability.
Justice Dotse said meritocracy must be embraced in the country to avoid misfortune that are tied to sub-standardisation saying, the situation where individuals are admitted into institutions should be based on merit but not relationships with any person of influence.
He said favouritism has done more evil than good to the nation and there is the need to halt this notion.
Justice Dotse said: “If we live in a society and continue to bend the rules, we cannot trust our institutions”.
He could not comprehend why the Ghana Water Company, Electricity Company of Ghana would extend water and electricity to houses situated in unapproved areas saying “if it is not an approved place of residence, how come that these utility services extend their services to the place?”
Justice Dotse, known to have coined the term “create, loot and share“, said Ghana has some of the best laws in the world but the actual problem confronting the country was the implementation of the laws.
He also called for the strengthening of all security agencies and institutions such as Economic and Organised Crime Office and Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice to help the court to adjudicate the matters properly.
Justice Dotse said “we need to stay off them to do their work because their works does not end up with them but with the courts.”
Mr Kofi Abotsi, the Dean of Faculty of Law at the Ghana Institute of Management, in an interview with Ghana News Agency, said the “June 3 disaster” summarised all what was wrong Ghana with “the fact that structures are not working and the fact that we are undisciplined and do not respect the rule of law.”
He said the movement was a call on Ghanaians to rediscover their obligations and work towards the progress of the country.
Mr Abotsi said the first project of the OneGhana Movement was the Justice for June 3 “J4J3-Campaign”, which would aim at the pursuit of justice for victims of the June 3, 2015 flood and fire disaster.
Other dignitaries supporting the movement are Reverend Dr Joyce Aryee, the founder of Salt and Light Ministries; Mr George Andah, the Deputy Minister for Communication; Mr Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, the Deputy Minister for Information and Roland Affail Monney, the President of the Ghana Journalists Association.
Source: GNA