The decision by Circuit Court Judge Samuel Bright Acquah to deny bail to the Bono Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Kwame Baffoe, popularly known as Abronye DC, continues to attract sharp public scrutiny.
Investigative journalist Manasseh Azure Awuni has waded into the matter, accusing the judge of misinterpreting George Orwell’s *Animal Farm to justify his ruling.
“The judge misunderstood and misapplied the quotes. George Orwell criticised the very action of the judge in Animal Farm,” Awuni reacted, pointing out that Orwell’s satirical novel was written to expose abuse of power, not to endorse it.
Judge Acquah’s ruling went beyond the two misdemeanor charges Abronye faces, stressing that the politician’s alleged remarks against the Inspector General of Police (IGP) carried wider national security implications.
“Accused person before the court is facing two (2) charges of misdemeanours. However, in this instant case, the court will not look at only the charges being misdemeanour but will extend it to the position of the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to the country that is the head of the police service,” the judge explained.
He argued that Abronye’s political stature made his utterances particularly damaging. “The words which came from the accused person is likely to put the security of the nation into disrepute,” he added.
To underline his point, Judge Acquah invoked George Orwell’s *Animal Farm*:
“It is always said that all persons are equal but in practice, it is not so. Courtesy George Owell in his book The Animal Farm, one of the commandments is that all men are equal but some are equal than others. Translated into this case, all men are equal but some are more equal than others.”
But Awuni insists this interpretation flips the intended message of Orwell’s work on its head.
For him, Orwell’s famous line was not a principle to be applied but rather a condemnation of how those in authority twist equality to entrench privilege.
