The National Communications Director of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Richard Ahiagbah, says President John Dramani Mahama has an ulterior motive behind the current petitions seeking the dismissal of Chief Justice Gertrude Esaaba Torkornoo.
According to him, the President wants the Chief Justice removed and replaced with his preferred candidate to facilitate plans to dismiss the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission, Jean Mensa, and her deputy, Bossman Asare.
Speaking on Accra-based Channel One TV’s Big Issue on Saturday, April 19, the NPP spokesperson alleged that the President received petitions seeking the removal of the EC bosses long before the ones targeting the Chief Justice.
He emphasized that the only reason those earlier petitions have not been acted upon is because they must first be forwarded to the Chief Justice, who is constitutionally mandated to determine a prima facie case before a committee can be set up.
“I’ve seen about three of them. I read them way back on January 17. The last one I saw was presented to the President on January 17. That is on the President’s desk as we speak. Why hasn’t he forwarded that one to the Chief Justice? Why? What’s that petition still doing in his office?
“He has petitions against Jean Mensa and Bossman Asare in his office—received before the ones against the Chief Justice. You can make an educated guess. It’s clear that the Chief Justice must give way for these petitions to proceed,” he noted.
Mr. Ahiagbah stressed, “And you know that the removal of the EC officials falls squarely under the jurisdiction of the Chief Justice, so she would have to establish a case and, from there, set up a committee to investigate.”
His comments come following reports that three separate petitions have been submitted to the Council of State seeking the removal of Chief Justice Torkornoo in line with Article 146(6) of the 1992 Constitution.
The Chief Justice formally responded to the petitions on April 7, meeting the deadline set by the President. However, the content of the petitions and her response remains undisclosed.
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Comments
Why not? Those NPP criminal gang have no business being at the EC. If Ghanaians were to vote on them today, very few Ghanaians would want them to continue stay at EC. And these NPP comedians are so silly, it's no longer funny. When did removing EC commissioners become unacceptable to them? They talk as if they all just dropped into town for the first time from Jupiter only yesterday.