2007年VOA标准英语-Jailing of Ghana's Opposition MP Raises Politic

By Efam Dovi
Accra
07 February 2007

In Ghana, Monday's sentencing of an opposition¹ member of parliament to 10 years in prison for fraud has raised political tension between the government and the biggest opposition party. The National Democratic Congress has accused President John Kufuor's government of carrying out selective justice and has declared an indefinite boycott² of parliamentary proceedings³ in solidarity⁴ with their colleague. From the capital Accra, Efam Dovi reports that the Ghanaian public is divided on the controversy⁵.

The member of parliament, Dan Akpodakpi, was given the maximum sentence after he was convicted for conspiring⁶, defrauding⁷ and willfully causing financial loss of $400,000 U.S. to Ghana, when he was the minister of trade and industry in the previous government.

 
NDC officials at the press conference at party’s headquarters in Accra
Opposition NDC party officials and supporters sung songs at a press conference Tuesday, where party chairman, Kwabena Adjei, announced that the boycott was effective immediately.

"The party has directed the parliamentary caucus⁸ not to participate in the work of parliament commencing today in solidarity with our imprisoned⁹ colleague, Dan Agbodakpi, for obvious miscarriage¹⁰ of justice," said Kwabena Adjei.

Victor Serlomey, a deputy minister of finance in the previous NDC government who was tried along with Akpodakpi died during the trial. He and his former boss, Kwame Preprah, served prison terms on similar charges in another case.

Other former government officials and former first lady, NanaKonadu Agyeman-Rawlings, are also being tried on similar charges in separate cases.

The NDC says it is against the use of the criminal justice system to persecute¹¹ political opponents.

"We believe that justice must be blind, and that the sword of justice must cut in any direction notwithstanding political or ethnic¹² affiliation," he said.

The party said there have been several allegations of corruption¹³ made against members of President Kufuor's government, but they are yet to be prosecuted¹⁴. It says this violates the president's own "zero tolerance¹⁵" policy on corruption.

 
Ghana Government spokesman Frank Agyekum (file photo)
Government spokesman, Frank Agyekum, says the government is not carrying out selective justice.

"We are not being partial we are not being selective and if they do really have a case against any minister or any member of government they should make a strong case for it, after all Ghana is a free society," said Frank Agyekum.

He describes the opposition's boycott of the legislature as unfortunate.

"The important thing is that the due process of the law was followed," he said. "So I think their boycott is very unfortunate and to me I think is uncalled for. When we do that we debase the institutions of democracy, and what they are trying to do is to try and belittle¹⁶ the work of the judiciary."

Ghanaians interviewed on the street of the capital, Accra, are divided on the issue. This building contractor¹⁷, Joe Lartey, says he believes the trial was politically motivated.

"It is political motivation because the thing [trial] has kept long, this thing started I think started about five years ago, this thing [should have] been worked on for long time, but not five years back before you were able to sentence this guy for 10 good years. I think it's too much," said Joe Lartey.

 
Yeboah: An Accra taxi driver 
This taxi driver, Yeboah, says the sentence was too harsh. He says the MP has served Ghana for a long time and that if he erred¹⁸, the nation should take his service into consideration.

But this public service worker disagrees.

"It's the law which has taken its cause. If you do any mistake the law will deal with you because we are in the rule of law. The velocity¹⁹ [weight] of the offense²⁰ has to go with the sentence," he said.

The jailed MP had been a member of parliament since Ghana returned to constitutional rule in 1992. He was part of the then majority NDC, which passed the law under which he has been jailed.

1 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

2 boycott   

n./v.(联合)抵制，拒绝参与

参考例句：

• We put the production under a boycott.我们联合抵制该商品。
• The boycott lasts a year until the Victoria board permitsreturn.这个抗争持续了一年直到维多利亚教育局妥协为止。

3 proceedings   

n.进程，过程，议程；诉讼(程序)；公报

参考例句：

• He was released on bail pending committal proceedings. 他交保获释正在候审。
• to initiate legal proceedings against sb 对某人提起诉讼

4 solidarity   

n.团结；休戚相关

参考例句：

• They must preserve their solidarity.他们必须维护他们的团结。
• The solidarity among China's various nationalities is as firm as a rock.中国各族人民之间的团结坚如磐石。

5 controversy   

n.争论，辩论，争吵

参考例句：

• That is a fact beyond controversy.那是一个无可争论的事实。
• We ran the risk of becoming the butt of every controversy.我们要冒使自己在所有的纷争中都成为众矢之的的风险。

6 conspiring   

密谋( conspire的现在分词 )； 搞阴谋； （事件等）巧合； 共同导致

参考例句：

• They were accused of conspiring against the king. 他们被指控阴谋反对国王。
• John Brown and his associates were tried for conspiring to overthrow the slave states. 约翰·布朗和他的合伙者们由于密谋推翻实行奴隶制度的美国各州而被审讯。

7 defrauding   

v.诈取，骗取( defraud的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Second is the actor regards defrauding of the wealth as object. 第二，行为人以骗取钱财为目的。 来自互联网
• Therefore, DELL has the motive and economic purpose of intentionally defrauding the Chinese consumers. 因此，戴尔公司存在故意欺诈中国消费者的动机和经济目的。 来自互联网

8 caucus   

n.秘密会议；干部会议；v.（参加）干部开会议

参考例句：

• This multi-staged caucus takes several months.这个多级会议常常历时好几个月。
• It kept the Democratic caucus from fragmenting.它也使得民主党的核心小组避免了土崩瓦解的危险。

9 imprisoned   

下狱，监禁( imprison的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He was imprisoned for two concurrent terms of 30 months and 18 months. 他被判处30个月和18个月的监禁，合并执行。
• They were imprisoned for possession of drugs. 他们因拥有毒品而被监禁。

10 miscarriage   

n.失败，未达到预期的结果；流产

参考例句：

• The miscarriage of our plans was a great blow.计划的失败给我们以巨大的打击。
• Women who smoke are more to have a miscarriage.女性吸烟者更容易流产。

11 persecute   

vt.迫害，虐待；纠缠，骚扰

参考例句：

• They persecute those who do not conform to their ideas.他们迫害那些不信奉他们思想的人。
• Hitler's undisguised effort to persecute the Jews met with worldwide condemnation.希特勒对犹太人的露骨迫害行为遭到世界人民的谴责。

12 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

13 corruption   

n.腐败，堕落，贪污

参考例句：

• The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
• The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。

14 prosecuted   

a.被起诉的

参考例句：

• The editors are being prosecuted for obscenity. 编辑因刊载污秽文字而被起诉。
• The company was prosecuted for breaching the Health and Safety Act. 这家公司被控违反《卫生安全条例》。

15 tolerance   

n.宽容；容忍，忍受；耐药力；公差

参考例句：

• Tolerance is one of his strengths.宽容是他的一个优点。
• Human beings have limited tolerance of noise.人类对噪音的忍耐力有限。

16 belittle   

v.轻视，小看，贬低

参考例句：

• Do not belittle what he has achieved.不能小看他取得的成绩。
• When you belittle others,you are actually the one who appears small.当你轻视他人时， 真正渺小的其实是你自己。

17 contractor   

n.订约人，承包人，收缩肌

参考例句：

• The Tokyo contractor was asked to kick $ 6000 back as commission.那个东京的承包商被要求退还6000美元作为佣金。
• The style of house the contractor builds depends partly on the lay of the land.承包商所建房屋的式样，有几分要看地势而定。

18 erred   

犯错误，做错事( err的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He erred in his judgement. 他判断错了。
• We will work on those who have erred and help them do right. 我们将对犯了错误的人做工作，并帮助他们改正。

19 velocity   

n.速度，速率

参考例句：

• Einstein's theory links energy with mass and velocity of light.爱因斯坦的理论把能量同质量和光速联系起来。
• The velocity of light is about 300000 kilometres per second.光速约为每秒300000公里。

20 offense   

n.犯规，违法行为；冒犯，得罪

参考例句：

• I hope you will not take any offense at my words. 对我讲的话请别见怪。
• His words gave great offense to everybody present.他的发言冲犯了在场的所有人。