The New Patriotic Party (NPP) has accused the Chief Justice of descending into partisan politics after a video in which he allegedly praised a parastatal under the current NDC government as performing better than the previous NPP administration.
In a strongly worded statement, the party said it had taken note of the video “with profound shock and disgust,” adding that the comments attributed to the Chief Justice were not befitting of the head of Ghana’s Judiciary.
“Let it be stated plainly: this is not the language of a Chief Justice. It is the language of a party propagandist, of a kind exclusively reserved for NDC communicators and serial callers, and it has no place whatsoever in the mouth of the head of Ghana’s Judiciary,” the statement said.
The NPP cited Articles 125 and 127 of the Constitution, which establish the Judiciary as an independent arm of government, noting that the judicial oath binds the Chief Justice to do justice to all manner of persons without fear or favour.
The party described the video as part of a pattern, claiming the Chief Justice has become a regular presence at functions of political appointees of the current government.
“A Chief Justice who travels and celebrates as a courtier of the Executive cannot thereafter sit as a neutral umpire in cases to which the Executive is a party,” it said.
They added that “He has presented himself not as the impartial head of an independent Judiciary but as a leading member of the National Democratic Congress in judicial robes, and if political commentary is his true vocation, he should resign forthwith and formally take up membership of the NDC.”
The NPP also took issue with the Chief Justice’s reported vow to ensure the President’s agenda succeeds, questioning which agenda he referred to.
“The NPP jokes not with his declared vow that everything must be done to ensure that the agenda of the President succeeds. Which agenda, My Lord? The President’s declared agenda includes Operation Recover All Loot (ORAL), under which persons associated with the NPP are being arraigned before the very courts over which he presides,” the statement noted.
The party further alleged selective justice, pointing to what it described as the alacrity with which warrants are issued in political cases involving NPP members, citing the incarceration of Chairman Wontumi.
It also criticized the Chief Justice for what it said was neglect of the Judiciary’s own challenges, including crumbling courtrooms and overwhelmed registries, while acting as a “monitoring and evaluation officer of the Executive.”
The party has served notice that it will convene a major press conference in due course to lay the full record of the Chief Justice’s conduct before the nation.
“The Judiciary belongs neither to the President, nor to the NDC, nor to the Chief Justice; it belongs to the people of Ghana, who are entitled under the Constitution to courts that are blind to politics,” the NPP concluded.
By Edem Mensah-Tsotorme
