Member of Parliament for Builsa South Dr. Clement Apaak has taken the Attorney General Godfred Yeboah Dame to the cleaners for attacking former President John Dramani Mahama who recently called for a house cleansing of the judiciary.
The Attorney General, Godfred Dame, called Mr. Mahama out for suggesting that there was the need to repair the judiciary’s tarnished image.
According to him, the current leadership of the Judiciary lacks the necessary qualities to restore the institution’s tarnished image, necessitating the appointment of a new Chief Justice.
Mr Mahama explained to a gathering at the NDC Lawyers’ Conference a few weeks ago that a perceived independent judiciary is a critical component in safeguarding the country’s democracy.
He believed that the judiciary needed a new Chief Justice to lead that charge because it had become a source of ridicule and mistrust.
“There is therefore the urgent need for the Ghanaian Judiciary to work to win the trust and confidence of the citizenry, and erase the widely held perception of hostility and political bias in legal proceedings at the highest courts of the land.
Unfortunately, we have no hope that the current leadership of our Judiciary can lead such a process of change. We can only hope, that a new Chief Justice will lead the process to repair the broken image that our Judiciary has acquired over the last few years”, Mahama said.
But the Attorney General has slammed him and accused him of denigrating the judiciary.
“It was great dismay and embarrassment that, I heard a person who has occupied the highest office of state that is the former President recently launched an unwarranted attack on the integrity of Ghana’s Judiciary.”
“I observed that, this was the latest instalment of systematic attack by the former President, albeit unjustified,” the Attorney General said.
Dr. Clement Apaak, on the other hand, has defended his former boss, claiming that he did nothing wrong.
He is asking if Mr. Mahama is not allowed to speak the truth, which was obvious that the judiciary’s image had been harmed and needed to be repaired.
He reiterated that the judiciary must find ways to repair its damaged image and the public perception of it in recent years.
He insisted that President Akufo-Addo has stacked our superior courts with partisan judges who deliver biassed judgments, which has become a source of concern for many Ghanaians, and that if the President was going to talk about it, he deserved to talk about it.
“JM shouldn’t speak the truth? AG should rather be surprised lawyers didn’t raise concerns about: 7-0 UNANIMOUS rulings; appointment of partisan activists as Judges; refusal to sanction Judges for misconduct; Bias in dealing with election cases by Judges!”
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana
