Chairman of the Constitutional and Legal Committee of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Frank Davies, has defended comments made by the Minority Leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, urging judges and the Ghana Bar Association (GBA) to resist any attempts to remove the Chief Justice, describing it as a “good call.”
This follows Mr Afenyo-Markin’s call on Ghana’s judges to stand united and resist what he described as politically motivated efforts to remove Chief Justice Gertrude Torkornoo from office.
The Efutu MP warned that recent developments point to attempts by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government to politicise the judiciary.
Speaking on JoyNews‘ Newsfile on Saturday, April 19, Mr. Davies noted that Afenyo-Markin’s statement was not partisan but rather a patriotic call aimed at protecting the integrity of the judiciary.
He compared the Majority Leader’s comments to those of civil society voices who have also expressed concern about preserving the sanctity of the judiciary.
“Let us put the issues in context. If you listen carefully to Afenyo-Markin, he was making a national appeal that we should safeguard the Office of the Chief Justice,” he explained.
“You might not like Afenyo-Markin for other reasons,” Davies said, “but on this occasion, I don’t think he said anything untoward. That was the right platform for him to speak, especially as it was during an official NPP event,” he added.
Mr. Davies also pushed back on claims by former Tamale Central MP, Inusah Fuseini, that the NPP was politicising the matter. According to him, such commentary is misplaced and lacks proper context.
“He’s saying that we [NPP] have politicised the issue. I totally disagree with him. The loud noises started coming from NDC political actors. Your people largely started the commentary. Even before this Chief Justice removal process officially began, it was already being speculated all over that there was an agenda to remove the Chief Justice.”
He therefore called on all to protect the Chief Justice’s office, and not politicise, especially at a time when judicial independence must be jealously guarded.