Ghana’s Legal System Is Not Your Friend, Alertness is …African American Warns Compatriots

An African American entrepreneur with rich experience from staying in Ghana for a long time has warned dreamers in the West looking to relocate to Ghana to be wary of a deadbeat legal system.

On a TouTube podcast, “Be Free” he warns that those seeking to run away from constricted freedoms in places like the US, UK and other Western countries, will find out after they have relocated to Ghana that the law does not exactly work and the law courts cannot be trusted to serve justice.

Rather than having faith in the legal system, he advises dreamers to put their energies in cultivating trustworthy people so that as much as possible, they do not incur the need to go to court.

“So, you have big plans to relocate to Ghana and you’re excited. Well, if you’re relocating from the West, one piece of advice that I can give on making your relocation efforts a success is to learn how to choose the right people around you and readjust your expectations. Do not come here using the same yardstick you use to measure things in the West,” Mr. McNeal told his audience.

 “We usually come here because we’re seeking more freedom and more peace. However, along with that more freedom is less legal structure. Where in the West you will find a very structured legal system, it’s simply not the case here. Don’t get me wrong; you will find a functional legal system here, but it will be very frustrating for those coming from the West. And if you have to resort to it then you have already likely lost whatever you are trying to recover.” 

 He further advises, “When doing business involving large amounts of money, you have to do business with credible people. Do not place your faith that the legal system will make things right in case something goes wrong. If you cannot place your faith in the person whom you’re doing business with then don’t do business with them.”

The advice is an indictment of the Judiciary headed by Chief Justice Kwasi Anin-Yeboah, whose judgment in the 2020 election petition was rejected by former President John Mahama and the NDC.

Ghana’s Judiciary is notoriously for being corrupt with the wheel of justice that grinds so slow and too unpredictable for many.

A couple of years back, undercover investigative journalist, Anas Aremeyaw Anas, was able to secretly record many High Court judges receiving bribes in exchange for skewing justice.

For some of these judges, the price tag on their consciences included yams and goat meat, which they were willing to accept in order to free armed robbers in some cases.

Since Anas’ expose, no notable reforms have been carried out in the judiciary.

Mr. McNeal tells his audience of harrowing experiences that some unsuspecting expatriates had endured in Ghana and the law courts could not help them in any way.

“I know a white business owner living in Ghana who purchased land in Accra and has been fighting it in court for over 6 years. He cannot even set foot on the land he purchased because the last time he tried to go there the landguards beat him up and took his phone,” says McNeal.

 He says that even court officials were involved in scamming him and others so getting justice has proven elusive.

 He warns again that, “If you plan on being successful, you had better know how to identify and surround yourself with people of integrity. Otherwise, no legal system will save you.”