He bellowed in a stern voice which sent even the brave shivering in their pants. He went on to tell the whole of Ghana that even the President was under him. Justice William Atuguba gave a strong warning to Ghanaians, adding that all the powers in Ghana resided in the Supreme Court.
He threw his Catholic faith away when, instead of speaking meekly and in absolute humility and putting the Sacred Scriptures into action as the Catholic Church always does, Justice Atuguba spoke like Pontius Pilate, like King Herod, and like any of the chief priests and elders with such pride and arrogance when he was determining the fate of some New Patriotic Party (NPP) supporters who, he claimed, spoke in a manner that was contemptuous to the court. This happened during the hearing of the 2013 Election Petition before the Supreme Court of Ghana.
If the President can sack judges from the bench, then how can Justice Atuguba speak in such a manner as to make the ordinary person on the street believe he is more powerful than the President?
In his preamble before giving his ruling, Justice William Atuguba stated clearly that in no African nation had election results been nullified by the court, and so Ghana cannot be the first. From what authority was he speaking?
Almost eight years down the line, I believe I got the answer.
Lawyer Abraham Amaliba of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), a few nights ago, appeared on television and spoke about the composition of the panel of judges who were to sit on the 2021 Elections Petition, and his words stunned Ghanaians.
According to this my learned friend, I mean he is my friend and he is learned, I am not a lawyer by the way, the composition of judges on the panel was more important if the course of justice was to be served.
He said everywhere in the world, appointments to the Supreme Court were done based on how close that judge was to the party in government. In other words, a ruling party will appoint only “card-bearing” judges or lawyers into the Supreme Court. He added that it was very necessary so that they lean towards the party or government which appointed them, during their judgments on very serious issues.
He stated that for proper balance, he and the NDC expected Justices Yaw Appau and Gabriel Pwamang to be among the panel, because they were appointed by ex-president John Mahama. He felt Justice Jones Dotse should be included because of his experience on the 2013 Election Petition. But why he left out Justice Paul Baffoe-Bonnie, who was also on the 2013 panel, could lead to speculations on ethnic lines.
Was Abraham Amaliba trying to say that when it comes to delivery of justice, especially from the Supreme Court, our judges always ruled in favour of the party or the government that appointed them? Is Amaliba trying to say justice in Ghana is not delivered fairly and truthfully, but rather based on the judge’s political leanings? Has this been the modus operandi of the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC)/NDC and the pro-socialists governments in this country?
This is an indictment on our courts, and especially in this case, the Supreme Court. If Justice Atuguba blinded his eyes of good judgment and rather leaned heavily towards the NDC which appointed him to form his verdict, then Abraham Amaliba was now only informing Ghanaians that the 2012 Election Petition should have been won by the plaintiffs, President Nana Akufo-Addo and the NPP.
However, I wish to demonstrate that all the complaints the NDC and Amaliba are making about the way the panel of judges should be composed should not be accepted, because they are not necessary, not based on facts, and are unfounded.
To begin with, in the 2013 Election Petition, out of the nine judges on the panel, six were appointed during the New Patriotic Party’s Kufuor administration. They were Justices Sophia Adinyira, Julius Ansah, Rose Constance Owusu, Anin Yeboah, Jones Dotse and Paul Baffoe-Bonnie. Justice William Atuguba was appointed by NDC’s Jerry John Rawlings, and Justices N.S. Gbadegbe and Vida Akoto Bamfo were appointed by NDC’s John Evans Atta Mills.
If what Amaliba and the NDC are saying can be accepted, then the verdict should have been 6-3 in favour of the plaintiffs, and not 5-4 in favour of the defendants. That two of “NPP” judges could rule against their own party clearly shows that the NPP appointed judges are independently-minded when it comes to ruling on cases.
Also, are Mr Abraham Amaliba and the NDC saying that they never acknowledged what Justice Yaw Appau said in his ruling on the matter of the Hohoe/Guan parliamentary issue? This judge, who was appointed by NDC’s John Mahama on June 29, 2015, actually ruled against the NDC.
A lot of Ghanaians are coming to accept that the NDC knows it has no case in court, and in fact, its gurus and leaders know very well that the party lost the 2020 Presidential Election. The problem is that the way the party hyped up its teeming supporters into believing that it was going to bury NPP for good, but unfortunately, as this did not happen, it must find a way of making the supporters accept the truth.
The only safety course the leaders and gurus can chart, in order not to beaten up by disappointed and angry party supporters, was to take the matter to the Supreme Court and make the court say it for them. And to make sure that this will be soundly accepted, the NDC has started dividing the Supreme Court into NPP and NDC factions, so that its supporters will start preparing their minds for the inevitable.
The NDC supporters’ attention is drawn to the current composition of the Supreme Court. Four were appointed by NPP’s Kufuor, two by NDC’s Mahama, and eight by NPP’s Nana Addo. So, in a panel of nine judges, only a maximum of two will be “NDC” judges. And with that, Amaliba and the NDC are telling their supportersto anticipate a 2-7 defeat coming their way.
The NDC and the likes of Amaliba must give us a break and allow peace and justice to rule in the Supreme Court. They must not seek to further divide this country by placing tags on our judges.
The way this NDC was boisterous, vociferous, and full of fight before, during and immediately after the elections, it must be humble enough and to tell its party members the truth. This is why I believe the Amaliba and the NDC have something to tell their supporters, and it is the painful truth.
Our Supreme Court should be left in peace.
Hon Daniel Dugan
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect The Chronicle’s stance.
The post Amaliba and the NDC, isn’t there something you want to tell your supporters? appeared first on The Chronicle Online.
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