Attempts to remove Chief Justice premeditated – Oppong Nkrumah

Member of Parliament (MP) for Ofoase Ayirebi and Ranking Member of Parliament’s Economy and Development Committee, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, has described the ongoing processes to remove the Chief Justice as political and pre-planned.

Speaking on JoyNews’ AM Show on Thursday, 29 May, Mr Oppong Nkrumah said the Chief Justice would defend herself but stressed that the whole issue was more political than legal.

“I think for her, she will fight for her rights in the ongoing process. But I think any honest person knows that what is going on is politics and not law,” he said.

He criticised those who claim the process is simply a constitutional one under Articles 146 or 147.

“Anybody who says that this is Article 146 or 147 is either complicit in it or is being naive. Everybody knows what is going on is politics,” he maintained.

Mr Oppong Nkrumah stated that the plan to remove the Chief Justice was not only political but also deliberately laid out ahead of time.

“This was premeditated, this was preannounced, this was preadvertised,” he argued.

He pointed to public comments made by now President John Mahama when he was in opposition, suggesting the NDC planned to change the judiciary’s composition.

“There are clips of now-President Mahama announcing that they have a plan to appoint more NDC persons onto the benches. He announced clearly that they were of the view that the benches were not favourable to them,” he said.

He also claimed that members of the then-opposition party openly attacked the judiciary.

“They bastardised the Chief Justice and the Supreme Court extensively when they were in opposition,” he added.

Referring to the 2020 election petition, Mr Oppong Nkrumah recalled being part of the NPP’s legal team and witnessing public attempts to discredit the Chief Justice.

“I was part of our legal team when we were going through the last election petition. You see all the remarks that are made about her on social media, calling her all sorts of names and trying very hard to link her to the NPP,” he said.

Mr Oppong Nkrumah believes the motive behind the removal attempt was clear from the beginning.

“And so the intention was clear in the issue. If that had not been the case, then people could actually believe that there is an innocuous constitutional process going on,” he said.

Wrapping up, Mr Oppong Nkrumah warned that the legal procedures are only being used to mask a political mission.

“What is going on is a pre-advertised, pre-orchestrated, pre-planned exercise now using the legal processes as a cover, and I don’t think anybody is fooled by that, but what I will say to that is that the consequences of our actions are ahead of us,” he added