Removing Ghana’s Chief Justice: A Judicial Coup D’Etat

The Chief Justice is going! A judicial Coup D’Etat and interference which began and was profound under the Akufo-Addo Administration with blackmail and the blatant packing of the courts and to achieve their goals. The Mahama Administration is helping by concluding the process through the potential removal of the current Chief Justice, Madam Getrude Torkornoo and subsequent replacement with voices more sympathetic to the current government.

The courts, especially at its apex, whether here in Ghana or other jurisdictions are exactly what they are. Mostly men and women in black gowns who are equally drowned in mud of politics and various interests just like their counterparts in the executive and legislature.

Both the Akufo-Addo government and now the Mahama administration seek to influence the Judiciary by getting their own people there to carry out verdicts the Executive and their friends and associates deem fit.

To be blunt, many people who may end up jailed under the Administration of President Mahama may not necessarily be guilty but rather considered nuisance to the government. Just as many people who were targeted by the NPP administration like the Honorable Ato Forson, the current Finance Minister, were not necessarily guilty but rather considered nuisance to the Akufo-Addo government.

In fact, the biggest nuisance to the last NPP administration was the convenors of ‘Fix the Country Movement’ including Captain Smart, a broadcaster who was arrested and harassed more than Atta-Ayi with many trumped-up charges under the NPP regime.

Thankfully, the NPP lost and in the NDC government, Captain Smart seems to get some relief from a more sympathetic government.

Interestingly, Captain Smart seems to have handed over the mantle to another mate of his from that movement, Afrifa-Mensah who is expected to be given Captain Smart treatment under the current NDC government with many arrests on trumped-up charges and subsequent prosecutions.

The ‘Fix the Country’ movement and its subsequent demonstration was the closest Ghana has come to the Kumepreko demonstration in the mid 90’s which had the likes of Nana Akufo-Addo, Kwasi Pratt, Kwaku Baako and others spearheading the citizenry to rise against the Rawlings regime’s introduction of VAT tax.

By removing the Chief Justice, President Mahama may do Ghanaians a favor by discarding the pretense that the Ghanaian Justice system (including the judges and lawyers) is anything but an Elite Congregation of men and women in Black Gowns playing a role no different than their counterparts in the Executive and legislature, Except with a much more subdued and pseudo-enlightened demeanor.

God Bless Our Land Ghana. GYE NYAME!