Attorney General Godfred Dame has said he does not recall either the late Jerry John Rawlings or the late Prof. John Evans Atta Mills mounting such a systematic and deliberate campaign of hate against the Judiciary, calling on former President John Dramani Mahama to learn from them.
According to him, never once did Mr. Mahama’s former boss, Prof Mills launch any attack at all on the Judiciary.
Speaking at the annual conference of the Ghana Bar Association in Ho, Godfred Dame said “Closely examined, one will notice that the source of the former President’s unjustified attacks on the Judiciary is the unanimous dismissal by the Supreme Court of his rather porous election petition, which indeed was dead on arrival and bound to be dismissed by any court worth its salt in any country. One cannot fail to note that his petition before the Court in 2021 was a bundle of incompetent claims devoid of any substance. As stated already, the allegations of “wrong aggregation of votes” and “vote padding,” which he put before the Court, collectively involved only 6,622 votes, a figure which could not in any way affect the outcome of the presidential election. It is therefore perplexing how, if such a petition is dismissed by the Court, it should form the basis for allegations of unfair treatment by the Court.”
“I 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, they 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 tools for its destruction.”
Mr. Dame said Judiciary has shown consistently that it is the last line of defense for our country and It was thus with great dismay and embarrassment that he heard a person who has occupied the highest office of State, former President John Mahama, recently launch an unwarranted attack on the integrity of Ghana’s Judiciary, adding, he observed that this was the latest installment of systematic and caustic attacks on our courts by the former President, albeit unjustified.
He said “the attack border on the security of the state and constitute a deliberate pattern of conduct aimed at undermining the independence of the Judiciary, an arm of government whose autonomy is crucial to its proper functioning. Such conduct is deplorable, coming from one who has occupied the highest office of the President and aspires again to that office. At this moment, all need to note that I express this sentiment not because I stand in opposition to former President Mahama as a politician. My dismay is founded more on the fact that I am a lawyer and every lawyer ought to be concerned about these kinds of views expressed by a political leader in this country!.”
Source: Mybrytfmonline/Kofi Atakora
