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Former president John Dramani Mahama is adamant that his recent comment on the judiciary is a reflection of how majority of Ghanaians appraise the judiciary. Citing recent reports from Afrobarometer and the Ghana Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana) on the corruption perception on Ghana’s judiciary, Mr. Mahama maintained that the people cannot be wrong about their verdict on the courts and judges.
The former president, speaking in an exclusive interview with TV3’s Alfred Ocansey, insists that his comment aimed at raising the needed attention to take measures to address the negative perception of the judiciary in recent times and not to attack the Chief Justice or the courts. ” The perception of the Ghanaian people is low, I was making a call for action to make the judiciary prudent”, he said. According to H.E John Dramani Mahama, his position as a once occupant of the highest office of the land should not bar him from speaking the truth. ” I have a voice that is listened to, in this country and therefore when I see something wrong, I will speak about it. You can’t take away that right from me”, he maintained. On what he makes of calls on him as a former president not to pass adverse comments on the judiciary, he responded “does that mean if you occupy the highest office of Ghana, you shouldn’t speak the truth? I only spoke the truth from the Ghanaian people” the former president stressed.
The Attorney-General, Mr. Godfred Dame on Monday, chided the former president in his address at the opening ceremony of the Ghana Bar Association conference held in Ho and called on the lawyers to speak up against the observation of John Mahama so as not to become “abettors of the propagation of hate against the judiciary”. ” I have observed with even greater worry that the former president, a non- lawyer, made those comments at a meeting of the legal Committee of his political party. None of the lawyers raised a finger to contest the wrong and dangerous propaganda by the former president. By their silence, the became abettors of the propagation of hate against the judiciary. It is worrying because lawyers ought to be the loudest and strongest defenders of the independence, integrity and importance of the judiciary rather than serving as a tool for its discussion” he stated.
The 2020 flag bearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), John Mahama, who is again eying a comeback to the seat of government by winning the 2024 general elections addressed a group of NDC lawyers and members of the party’s Legal Committee at a retreat in Ada and bemoaned the lack of trust by Ghanaians in the judiciary in recent years, a situation he attributed to the Supreme Court’s recent rulings on political cases which his party has been at the receiving end of an almost certain pernicious unanimous decisions.
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