#FREEKWAWKESE is nonsense

• Posted on December 9, 2014
• by Nana Kwesi Coomson
• 2 Comments

When a friend whatsapped me to confirm what he was hearing about Kwaw, I brushed it off in my usual nonchalant style and thought it was another unfounded social media rumor or media hype story, planted by the artiste’s team. I didn’t even bother to confirm for myself though many more people subsequently disturbed my nap, asking the same thing.

Before long, photos and videos of the lanky music star, spotting a rather exotic hairstyle and leaving the courtroom were broadcast. Reality started to dawn on all that the ‘man insane’ was indeed in big trouble. This kind of trouble didn’t look like the usual smoke screen of muscle flexing and ‘showmanship’ by the police. He was denied bail and was going to be kept in police custody for the next two weeks on remand.

I felt so sorry for Kwaw when I saw those images. I have admired him since I first interviewed him many years ago as a young broadcaster at Legon, working with ‘Radio Univers’. I subsequently encountered him severally throughout my days at Charter House. He is a nice and down to earth person, far from the rugged and crazy personality he often projects in the media. When his manager – Fennec – was murdered, my thoughts were with Kwaw because I knew at firsthand what Fennec meant to him and how close they were.

But away from my admiration of his talent and personality, – why are people asking kwaw kesse to be freed? – Is it because he’s popular and has many friends or it’s because people really believe possessing or smoking weed in public shouldn’t be a crime?

Well, I am sorry to say but it still remains a crime to possess and use marijuana in public in Ghana today. I don’t smoke – and trust me – despite the counter arguments I have heard severally about the need to legalize marijuana, I do not have an opinion about it. To say the least, I just don’t care what is done to weed(s).

My attitude towards wee is similar to how I feel about many other things including homosexuality. Aside my Christian religious beliefs, which teach that it is sacrilegious to practice such acts, I honestly don’t care much whether it is legalized or not. The only thing I know I care about is, so far as the rules of the land say it is not allowed… then whoever flouts the laws must face the corresponding legal punishment.

Earlier this week, a young tollbooth attendant called ‘errrrm’, ‘oooohhh’ (whats the boy’s name kraa?) was remanded into prison custody for stealing Two (2) Ghana Cedis. Meanwhile ‘Azongtaba’, RLG and the others involved in the SADA & GYEEDA scandals were only asked to refund what they unduly took from the state. No one is uttering a word for this poor boy or even pleading for clemency – is it because he’s a ‘nobody’ or is smoking wee less criminal than this?

The world we live in is already not fair but the least we can all do in such an unfair world is to create a system akin to what persisted in the ‘Animal farm’ fable, ‘four legs good, two legs bad’.

The law must be no respecter of persons whether celebrity or ‘common floor member’.

I will gladly and loudly support a ‘free anything movement’ if I believe there is injustice being perpetrated or if the system is being abused to serve anyone’s parochial interest but I will certainly not be part of a movement seeking to force the system to operate a selective justice principle.

Have we wondered why Jay Z, Kanye West or even Rihana didn’t form a #FreeChrisBrown movement when Breezy was found with drugs, or why Oprah Winfrey and Morgan Freeman did not take to twitter and facebook to demand the US Navy not to strip Bill Cosby of his honorary titles despite the serious allegations against him? And as for that flawed argument that Chris Brown was allowed to go scot-free after his shenanigans on stage, I guess Ruby Naayele Ametefe can also cite many examples to justify a request to set her free.

It pains me Kwaw Kesse is in this soup but so far as no one would have given a hoot if it had been John Doe, fatau Aziz, Etornam Gohoho, Solomon Obeng or Agartha Kuma – and so far as there are people languishing in jail for similar or even less offences, we should just allow the law to work even if just this once.

Wrong is wrong and the law must be allowed to work, regardless who is found foul.

We can make better use of our social media influences than just lurk around, needlessly waiting to seize opportunities to make ourselves feel relevant whenever any matter of interest pops up. Lets stop this nonsensical trend. It’s sheer sycophancy.

Are you still saying #FreeKwawKesse? Why?

By: Pasinoman