Justice Katureebe, Ghana’s Asamoah Gyan and the missed crucial penalty
There is sometimes a difference between bad and wrong; which we shall consider when we get to the bottom of the barrel. But let’s first tease the surface a tad: July 8, 1990, when [then] West Germany took on Argentina in the World Cup final at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome, Italy, before 73,100 fans and a billion or two on television.
Would the Germans exact revenge on the Diego Maradona-led Argentina who’d beaten them 3-2 in the 1986 final? To make it worse, Germany had lost the 1982 final 3-1 to Italy in Spain.
The Germans totally outplayed the Argentines, limiting them to one goal attempt. The Germans had 16 clear-cut chances (out of 23 attempts on goal) but the ball seemed to have a mind of its own and was clearly not interested in going in – either hitting the post or somehow, by itself, looking for the very safe hands of Sergio Goycochea. Six minutes from time Germany was awarded a penalty when Roberto Sensini fouled Rudi Voeller.
The English commentator said, “There are only two players in the West Germany team that can take a penalty at this stage of the game: the Captain Lothar Matthaeus or the Left Back, Andreas Brehme.”
Germans are by nature, methodical and painstaking; they plan ahead. Not everybody is allowed to take a decisive penalty. Matthaeus had had to replace his boots in the middle of the game and didn’t feel comfortable in the new ones, so he didn’t want to risk his nation losing out on a great opportunity. That left Brehme as the only other choice.
Hold your breath now, as the whole world did; as the cold-blooded assassin of a Brehme pulled the trigger! Goycochea actually saw the ball and dived far to his right, but Brehme was too precise. Germany won their third World Cup.
Still holding your breath, let’s now go to July 2, 2010, when Ghana played Uruguay at the World Cup quarter final at Soccer City, Johannesburg, South Africa. Ghana Coach, Milovan Rajevac, clearly short-sighted, made the very foolish mistake of taking off their most sure-footed penalty taker Sulley Muntari in the 88th minute when the game was 1-1 and a penalty shoot-out looked likely.
As hard luck would have it, when Ghana got a deserved penalty at the end of extra time, Muntari was on the bench. Decisive penalties require cold blooded assassins; not circus acts like Asamoah Gyan who play to the gallery. Africans held their breath, hoping that an African team would reach the semi-final for the first time in history. Gyan, somehow, managed to hit the cross-bar. History will never forgive him.
And now let’s go to April 18, 2019, when the Supreme Court justices delivered their verdict on the constitutional appeal, whose most delicate issue in essence was whether or not President Museveni should quit in 2021 by virtue of age limit – a defining moment for Uganda’s democratic future.
Judicial decisions are made basing on law and fact; but many times a verdict can easily go either way, and a court must rely on the broader historical context in which the case is placed to make a just decision that will serve the best interests, in this case, of the nation.
See, Asamoah Gyan lacked killer instinct at the defining moment of African football, crashing his penalty onto the cross-bar. But in Uganda’s case, with the score at 3-3, as Ugandans held their breath, Chief Justice (CJ) Bart Katureebe deliberately kicked a soft penalty into the grateful arms of the goalkeeper. History won’t forgive him easily. You may now breathe out.
Dictatorship won that penalty shoot-out 4-3; the CJ being one of four judges who ruled (in essence) that the President stays. Good for Museveni and maybe not wrong at law; but very bad for justice… and Uganda; for there is sometimes a difference between bad and wrong.
Mr Tegulle is an advocate of the High Court of Uganda
[email protected]
