Director of Communications for the NPP, Richard Ahiagbah, has alleged that President Mahama’s suspension of the Chief Justice is politically motivated and aimed at paving the way for the removal of Electoral Commission Chairperson, Jean Mensa.
He labelled the move as unfortunate and criticised the NDC’s ‘Reset’ mantra, cautioning that it would have grave ramifications for the country’s democracy.
“This is not technical. The process may be technical, but the motive is political. The politics of it is that they want to remove the Chief Justice to pave the way to target the Electoral Commission. And I think that is very, very egregious and most unfortunate for the NDC to be doing that. Somehow, the reset they call it is a reset that may have serious and grave implications for our democracy,” he said.
Ahiagbah further alleged that the President has refused to forward three petitions seeking the removal of the EC Chairperson, which have been before him since January, to the Chief Justice.
He claimed that the President’s objective is to appoint a Chief Justice who would be more agreeable to the removal of Jean Mensa, as Chief Justice Gertrude Sackey Torkornoo would not entertain the grounds outlined in the petitions.
“That petition has been with the President since January. The President has not referred it to the CJ. The question is why? Why would he not? Because, essentially, per the Constitution, the President is like a conveyor belt. So, having received that petition against the Electoral Commission, why hasn’t he referred it? My view is that the President thinks and knows that, if you have read that petition, the flimsy excuses in them will not be entertained by this Chief Justice,” he said.
He, however, asserted that there were plausible grounds for the removal of former EC Chairperson Charlotte Osei, which differ from the procedure carried out in the petitions seeking the removal of the Chief Justice. He emphasized that the facts must align.
“There’s a certain precedent that another person may look to in order to justify a similar action. But the facts must align. What happened in the Charlotte Osei case, not to justify anything, but I’m saying that there was a plausible basis to rationalize what happened then, vis-à-vis what is happening now.” he stated.
President John Dramani Mahama has suspended Chief Justice Gertrude Sackey Torkornoo following the determination of a prima facie case in three petitions seeking her removal.
Her suspension is pending the findings of a five-member committee constituted to inquire into the petitions.
