John Kufuor's administration jailed Tsatsu Tsikata (R) under controversial circumstances in 2008

Following the turf on which legal luminary, Tsatsu Tsikata, and former Ghana president, John Agyekum Kufuor’s relationship emerged during the reign of the latter’s presidency, there has always been this widespread notion that the two men are at loggerheads.

And for seemingly obvious reasons: Kufuor’s administration jailed Tsikata under very contentious circumstances (a case of infringement of fundamental human rights), the matter has remained, and it came up during one of the most recent interviews of the celebrated lawyer.

During that encounter on GHOne TV, Tsatsu Tsikata was asked the question, ‘Have you forgiven President Kufuor?’ to which he said that despite his reservations about Kufuor's role in jailing him, he has no resentment against him.

He also added that there have been instances where he even extended courtesies to the former president in public whenever they have met.

"There is nothing to forgive. I say to people, I have never had any bitterness or grievance against President Kufuor. He did atrocious things against me for whatever reason. He was determined to have me go to prison, and I did go to prison.

"It was orchestrated by him on June 18, 2008. I was in prison for five months, but by God's grace, I didn't die in prison. I was evacuated to the hospital, and by God's grace, I'm still alive," he added.

On the subject of why he rejected a presidential pardon from Kufuor, he explained that John Agyekum Kufuor acted in bad faith.

"On his last day in office, he offered me a pardon, but I rejected it because it was in bad faith. It was clearly in bad faith. He had orchestrated everything. The day I was being sentenced, the court had not even announced it was going to give a decision because the trial hadn't ended. It had been set up for me to go to jail, and I went," he added.

But for Tsatsu Tsikata, the time he spent in prison was a moment of new lessons for him.

He added that the five months at the Nsawam Medium Security Prison exposed him to the horrible incidents and injustices of Ghana's criminal system.

According to him, while there, he crossed paths with people who had been on remand for more than a decade with their cases not heard.

"I actually thank God for that experience. I tell people that going to Nsawam Prison took me to another faculty of law. I engaged with many who were in prison, and I realised that there were people suffering injustices who did not have the kind of recourse that I had.

"I had the opportunity of a lawyer who gave it all to protect my rights. A lot of those people didn't have that. I saw people who were in prison for 12 years, and nobody has gone to court on their behalf," he said.

Tsatsu acquitted and discharged by Court of Appeal

After eight years of legal battle, Tsatsu Tsikata was cleared of the charges, and his conviction was reversed unanimously by the Court of Appeal, which acquitted and discharged him.

Justice Dennis Adjei said there was a miscarriage of justice when an Accra Fast Track High Court on June 18, 2008, found him guilty on three counts of willfully causing financial loss of GH¢230,000 to the state and another count of misapplying public property.

In a 2021 interview with KSM, he said of the saga: "I think I said it nicely. I wrote him a letter on my hospital bed, and I said I will not accept his pardon, and I wouldn't accept it.

"By then, I already had an appeal pending against the decision that had been taken. I wanted to be vindicated, not pardoned. When you are pardoned, it means that your conviction still stands, but the penalty has been wiped away."

Expressing delight at the overturned verdict, Tsikata quoted Psalm 94:15: "Justice will again be found in the courts, and all righteous people will support it," and emphasised that, indeed "justice has been found in the courts."

Meanwhile, watch this GhanaWeb Special documentary on the subject, 'The gold market that fuels galamsey' below:

AE