The New Patriotic Party (NPP) Member of Parliament for Ngleshie Amanfro, Sylvester Tetteh has defended president Akufo-Addo call’s on the electorates to reject John Dramani Mahama in the 2024 general elections.
He argued that the people at the Bar are voters and as such there was nothing untoward for the president to make that call.
“I don’t see anything wrong about what the president said at the Bar Conference; Bar Conference is the biggest opportunity to set some records straight” he stated.
His defence follows a call by president Akufo-Addo on Monday, strongly criticizing former president Mahama for his recent remarks alleging that the judiciary had been packed with judges aligned with the ruling NPP party.
He described Mahama’s comments as “very dangerous” and said they constituted a “brazen attack on the independence of the judiciary”.
The Ghana Bar Association (GBA) in a statement said it shared Akufo-Addo’s concerns about the independence of the judiciary, but that it did not agree with his methods.
“The GBA believes that the best way to protect the independence of the judiciary is to ensure that all politicians, regardless of their party affiliation, respect the rule of law and the separation of powers,” the statement said.
Speaking on Good Morning Ghana show today, Mr. Tetteh said the president reserves every right to comment on national issues.
He stated that the Bar Association cannot tell its speakers what to say at their Bar Conferences wondering what the president said wrong.
“If you look at the attacks at the judiciary the president keeps making the point constantly that we must refrain from politicizing our judiciary. Last week former president Mahama said that if he has the opportunity to come again he would equal the injustice of Akuffo-Addo appointing so many members of the bench, he will equal it by appointing NDC lawyers, I find that statement as highly irresponsible on the part of the former president of the Republic” Mr. Tetteh noted.
He said when the NPP took office most of the judges on the bench were those appointed by the NDC but didn’t complain about that.
The Ngleshie Amanfro MP noted that such public comments does not speak well of the judiciary, adding that taking a swipe at the judicial in the slightest opportunity is something we should be wary about.
Felix Kwaakye Ofosu, a former Minister of Communications who was also a panelist on the show stated that GBA’s statement distancing itself from the president’s comments is of no moral value.
In his view, the Attorney General, Godfred Dame did more politics than the president, insisting that the president had headlined the conference before and they knew what was going to happen.
He noted that there are many more prominent lawyers in the country who will have had something more significant to say and that “GBA has lost its glory, they are the legal wing of the NPP”.
He accused the president of appointing NPP people to occupy national institutions like NCCE and the EC.
According to him, President Mahama was speaking based on facts and that former president J. A Kuffour also appointed judges but he did so with some finesse but as for “Akuffo Addo he has chosen the crudest method to populate our judiciary with NPP types for the sole purpose of protecting his terrible government from scrutiny and accountability.”
Cataloging series of events to buttress his point, Mr. Kwaakye Ofosu wondered why the government is using different strokes for different people.
He warned: “We will never keep quiet over this mistreatment, you cannot swindle an opposition suppress and do everything within your power to undermine us….in a democracy nobody is above scrutiny this is a democracy not judicial tyranny and everybody reserves the right to comment on the work of public officials”.
source: mypublisher24.com