Sylvester Mensah, a leading member of the opposition NDC, has praised the National Security Minister over his recent comments about the judiciary.
According to him, the Minister was sincere and honest in sounding the alarm bells and early enough for the judiciary to restore sanity in the judicial space.
In a post on his Facebook timeline, Mensah wrote, “Kudos to the National Security Minister for the sincerity and honesty, in rightly sounding the alarm bells and early enough to restore sanity in the Judicial space. I guess he feels the pores of resentment and the potential threats better from his observatory.”
Albert Kan-Dapaah, while speaking at a sensitisation workshop on the national security strategy for judges of the superior courts, warned that the perception that the judiciary is biased has dire consequences on the country’s security.
He said if this is not checked, it will compel the citizenry to take the law into their own hands for personal satisfaction with the bench deemed biased.
“Injustice occasioned as a result of the absence of an effective justice delivery system or delayed justice or biased justice is certainly a threat to national security.
“Indeed, when injustice abounds, particularly in situations where the bench, which is considered the final arbiter of disputes, is deemed biased, citizens tend to take the law into their own hands most times without recourse to the established systems of justice delivery,” he said.
Kan-Dapaah added, “If the interpretation of the law is tilted in our favour all the time, people will start accusing the judiciary and will not have the confidence that they need.”
The above statement received some backlash from some members of the governing NPP.
Nii Ayikoi Otoo, a former Attorney General, chastized Albert Kan-Dapaah over the controversial comments.
According to him, judges do not determine cases on party lines even though the perception of bias exists and that the Minister should have sought legal advice before making the statement.
To Ayikoi Otoo, judges give rulings based on law and not feelings and the National Security Minister would have said something different if he had spoken to a legal practitioner before mounting the platform at the programme.
“I’m sorry to say that, I don’t think he sought legal advice [before commenting] because the judges have taken an oath to do justice to all manner of persons without fear or favour, ill-will and affection.
“He was saying that if someone brings a bad case, the Supreme Court must give a decision to favour that person merely because every time ruling for you will make people feel there is something wrong?” he quizzed while speaking on Joy FM, Monday, April 11, 2022.
Sylvester Mensah, however, noted that, Ayikoi Otoo’s reaction to Kan-Dapaah’s comment appears to be reinforcing the Kan-Dapaah’s genuine concerns instead.
“The reaction to Hon Kan-Dapaah’s admonition of the Supreme Court by former Attorney General, Hon Ayikoi Otoo appears to be reinforcing the former’s genuine concerns instead. I guess Hon Ayikoi Otoo would like to seek relevant advice from security experts before responding to issues concerning National Security,” he stated in his post.
“Ghanaians are fairly discerning and reasonable to form opinions about political or apolitical nature of rulings/judgements by the apex court. Unfortunately, it does not take another NPP lawyer to shape public opinion on this sensitive matter concerning National Security.
“I’d have been surprised if he had said anything to the contrary! Perhaps a more politically neutral person would have been more credible in this instance,” Sylvester Mensah stressed.
Source: Ghanaweb