Petitions against Chief Justice are full of flimsy pedestrian excuses – Afenyo-Markin

The Minority Leader in Parliament, Alexander Afenyo-Markin has said that the content of petitions submitted to President John Mahama for the removal of Chief Justice Gertrude Torkornoo are not grounds enough for her to leave office.

According to him, based what he has heard of the petitions, he believes they do not deserve any consideration.

“All these flimsy pedestrian excuses, looking at what is out there, you wonder whether these are real grounds for the removal of a chief justice.” he said on April 16 at a press conference held after a National Executive Committee meeting of the New Patriotic Party (NPP).

Three Ghanaians have petitioned President John Mahama to remove the Chief Justice based on reasons that are not yet public. Pursuant to constitutional provisions, President Mahama forwarded the petition to the Council of State for advice. Subsequently, he wrote to Chief Justice Torkornoo to respond to the allegations made against her.

Addressing journalists, Mr Afenyo-Markin urged Supreme Court judges to resist any attempt to divide their ranks.

“We are aware of attempts by persons in government to push for the removal of the Chief Justice from office. The judiciary should not be seen as part of the party-political system in our country. All we need is an impartial judiciary to dispense justice. What is happening is unacceptable and it is clear that the NDC wants to infiltrate the judiciary and make it partisan. But my advice to the judiciary is to stand together. Let not somebody create an impression of one of you and think that just be dislodging one of you, you will be the next. The next day, you will be the next,” the Minority Leader said in Accra.

“The judiciary must stand together as one body and make a full statement and condemn this action. The Ghana Bar Association must stand for the judiciary, Civil Society Organisations must stand for the judiciary,” he stressed.

Mr Afenyo-Markin called on President Mahama to use his final term in office to demonstrate his statesmanship.

“So, I would plead with President Mahama. This is his last term, so he is no more part of the mainstream politics. He should be looking at leaving a legacy. The hardliners in the NDC should be kept on the fringes. They should not be allowed in the middle to disrupt the governance process. They would want to remove everybody and that will not be good for our democracy,” he stated.