Peter Boamah Otokunor, a former deputy general secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), has echoed John Mahama’s assertion that the judiciary is stacked with judges who support the New Patriotic Party (NPP).
His responses follow the GBA’s condemnation of Mahama’s remark.
In response to Mahama’s remark, the GBA characterized it as inaccurate and insisted that a person’s political affiliation does not prevent them from becoming judges and being impartial when applying the law.
Saviour Kudze, the GBA’s public relations officer, said he doesn’t know how Mahama arrived at the conclusion that the judiciary is stacked with NPP judges in an interview with Accra-based Joy FM.
Kudze also said there is nothing wrong with Mahama advising a group of lawyers who have identified themselves as NDC lawyers to take up an appointment on the bench.
Mahama asserted that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo purposefully appointed the most judges to the bench in order to have people who will do his bidding when he is out of office and urged NDC members to “balance out” the bench in his remarks at the 3rd Annual Lawyers Conference of the NDC on Saturday, September 2, 2023.
Mahama claimed that because this government has a deliberate policy of appointing their people to the bench, the judiciary is currently stacked with judges who lean toward the NPP.
Otokunor joined the chorus of people denouncing the Association in a Facebook post.
He wrote: “Ghana Bar Association has been reduced to a ‘Chop Bar”.
The NPP’s Director of Legal Affairs, Gary Nimako, has criticized former Mahama for his recent remarks on the judiciary.
He claimed that Mahama’s criticism of the judiciary was harmful to Ghana’s democracy.
