Mills backs NDC Chairman on judiciary cleansing comments

Nii Lantey Vanderpuije, aide to President Mills

A Special Aide to President J.E.A. Mills has said the President fully supports the NDC Chairman on his comments that the judiciary needs cleansing.

Nii Lantey Vanderpuije, responding to media queries as to what the president thinks about the brouhaha caused by Dr Kwabena Adjei's comments that the NDC will cleanse the judiciary if the Chief Justice fails to do so, said the president "supports his chiarman."

Dr Kwabena Adjei's comments attracted flak from Ghanaians and prompted the Association of Magistrates and Judges to uncharacteristically issue a statement on the matter.

The opposition New Patriotic Party Thursday called on the police to arrest and prosecute the governing party's chairman for treason.

A section of the Ashanti Regional branch of the Ghana Bar Association laid down their tools in protest against the comments.

In the wake of the mounting condemnation, the NDC issued a statement backing its chairman but the condemnation poured in.

The Executive Director of the Institute for Democratic Governance (IDEG), Dr Emmanuel Akwetey, Thursday counseled the party to distance itself from the comments which he described as a bit irresponsible and called on the President to speak and restore confidence in the justice system.

Dr Akwetey stated that, “I think there is a fundamental discrepancy between what [the chairman] said and what president Mills as president of Ghana has consistently said and believed - 'Let's operate within the law,' and the [president] has said 'the law is slow, sometimes justice is slow but it ultimately catches up and the right thing is done' and those are the procedures.”

But the president's aide is saying Dr Akwetey was wrong this time around and that President Mills fully backs the party chairman.