The New Patriotic Party (NPP) has questioned the neutrality of the Chief Justice following what it describes as his vow to do everything possible to ensure the agenda of President John Dramani Mahama succeeds.
The Chief Justice, during a visit to the Minerals Income Investment Fund (MIIF) on Wednesday, September 2, praised the performance of MIIF and other state institutions.
He said some of the developments he had witnessed had left him wondering what Ghana had been doing over the previous eight years.
“I must congratulate you. I mean, you have done marvellously well. See, because sometimes when we hear the things that you have done, the things that some organisations are doing now, we wonder; some of us keep wondering what really we have been doing in the past eight years,” Justice Baffoe-Bonnie said.
Read Also: Chief Justice praises MIIF, other SOEs, questions what Ghana was doing in past 8 years
He made the comments after visiting the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT), where he said he had also been impressed by what he was told about the institution’s performance.
Comparing the situation to previous plans to dispose of some SSNIT assets, including Labadi Beach Hotel, the Chief Justice said: “If you compare that to the fact that not too long ago, SSNIT was preparing to sell its prized assets like Labadi Beach Hotel, you wonder how Ghana could have sunk so low.”
According to the NPP, the statement becomes particularly concerning because the government’s agenda includes the Operation Recover All Loot (ORAL) initiative, which has resulted in persons associated with the NPP being prosecuted before the courts.
The party said the Chief Justice’s comments could create the impression that the Judiciary is committed to advancing the political objectives of the Executive.
“A Chief Justice swears a single oath, and it is to the Constitution: to no President, no party and to no agenda,” the NPP said.
“The day he does otherwise, he ceases to be a judge and becomes an instrument of the very power he was appointed to check,” it added.
The NPP also cited the issuance of what it described as “vacation warrants” and the incarceration of its Ashanti Regional Chairman, Bernard Antwi Boasiako, popularly known as Chairman Wontumi, as evidence of what it considers unequal treatment under the current judicial system.
“Justice in this Republic now proceeds at two speeds: remarkable haste for opponents of the government and serene leisure for its friends,” the party alleged.
The opposition party said the Chief Justice’s words and conduct had reinforced concerns that the Judiciary was becoming aligned with the Jubilee House.
“The Chief Justice’s words and conduct lend chilling credence to the widespread concern that the leadership of the Judiciary is coordinating with Jubilee House,” the statement said.
The NPP said it would resist any attempt to turn the courts into instruments of political persecution and promised to present what it described as the “full record” of the Chief Justice’s conduct at a major press conference.
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