Mahama must be called to order for comment on judiciary, says Ahiagbah

The communications director of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Richard Ahiagbah has condemned former President John Mahama over his latest comment on the judiciary.

Mahama has criticised Ghana’s Supreme Court over its recent judgements, adding that the judiciary’s reputation had been severely tarnished.

“The image of our judiciary deteriorated that many of our citizenry openly make mockery of our Justice system and of our justices.,” the former president said recently. “The phrase; ‘go to court’ is these days met with derisive laughter instead of hope that one will truly get justice if he went to the court.”

According to him, “If people are not poking fun about politics and inducement being used to sway the hand of justice in the lower court then it is poking fun and making statements about the 7-0 of the unanimous FC. Verdicts which mostly involve cases of a political nature in our supreme court.”

“This is an unfortunate but serious development. One of the scariest existential threats to any democracy is when citizens think the judiciary holds no value for them,” Mahama added.

But reacting to the development on The Forum – Asaase 99.5 Accra’s news analysis and current affairs show on Saturday (17 September), Ahiagbah said Mahama must be called to order.

“The campaign process has not even started and already the former president is speaking this way. He needs to be called to order, the former president is a great communicator and he is calculative in everything he says.

“He must speak in ways that engender unity because he is a former president … The judiciary is an independent arm of government with systems in place that make sure of this.”

“The former president is creating confusion in the system which is totally unacceptable especially when he reacts the opposite when a ruling is in his favour,” Ahiagbah said.

Fred Dzakpata