The New Democratic Congress has demanded the immediate withdrawal of the petition of the Ghana Legal Council against the party’s Bolgatanga East MP Dr. Dominic Ayine.
A letter, written by the Traditional Council on behalf of the Chief Justice stated that, Dr. Ayine had allegedly cautioned the independence of the the Judiciary due to the manner the Supreme Court adjudicated the 2020 elections petition.
Background
The letter written on the 25th of May, 2021 stated that the Chief Justice found the comments made by Dr. Ayine during a panel discussion on Presidential elections petitions and their impact on Africa’s democracy disparaging and totally unacceptable. He therefore asked for further investigations into the matter.
NDC’s take on the letter
Speaking at a press briefing, the General Secretary of the party, Johnson Asiedu Nketia commented that the actions against Dr. Ayine is part of a grand scheme to intimidate people who hold different views to that of the Chief Justice.
Details of the Press Briefing by the party’s General Secretary
We wish to retreat that the fact that the invitation of Dr. Ayine to appear before the general legal council is yet another attempt of the Chief Justice to intimidate and suppress views that are at variance with his own views. Even if the Chief Justice deems his as erroneous, the statement made were decorous expressions of opinion about judgement delivered by the Supreme Court of Ghana and do not warrant professional discipline.
Our progressive match as a constitutional democracy will suffer a great set back if the disciplinary committee of the general legal council were to proceed to hold an enquiry into the matter of Dr. Ayine’s statement at the CDD event. Our constitution and laws protect the integrity and independence of the judiciary and not the sensibilities of judges.
Judicial vanity is a threat to justice and must not be considered in any democracy. We therefore join all well meaning Ghanaians to demand that the Chief Justice withdraws his petition against Dr. Ayine forth worth.
We further serve notice that as a political party, we are keenly following events and will resist any judicial tyranny with all our might.
Source:myghanadaily.com
