Check Quality Of Your Lawyers, They Might Not Be Good Enough – NDC Told | Politics

The opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) has been asked to review the performance of its legal team instead of complaining anytime the party loses a case in court.

National Communication Director of the Convention People’s Party (CPP), Sylvester Sarpong Soprano believes it is the quality of the opposition party’s legal representation that is questionable.

The NDC has on several occasions butted heads with the Judiciary.

Their criticisms against the Judiciary went an octave higher when the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that Deputy Speakers had the right to vote while presiding and can form part of a quorum in decision making.

The Minority innits reaction, described the ruling as smacking of Judiciary support for the controversial and now passed Electronic Transfer Levy (E-levy).

Mahama’s Take

Former President John Mahama also waded into the issue accusing the judiciary of being politicized.

“We do have problems with the Judiciary, I must say. I think that it is necessary for some internal reforms to take place there. It is necessary for the Chief Justice or whoever is responsible to make some reforms.

“Most of the governance institutions have been politicized. I give the example of the Judiciary. It is only in Ghana that a Supreme Court will make a decision that a birth certificate is not proof of citizenship…..

“…..That is what our judges should do. They must rise to the occasion,” he added.

Kan Dapaah’s Observation

Few weeks after, the National Security Minister made some comments that the NDC believes are a confirmation of their views against the Judiciary.

According to Kan Dapaah, “injustice occasioned as a result of the absence of an effective justice delivery system or delayed justice or biased justice is certainly a threat to national security. Indeed, when injustice abounds, particularly in situations where the bench, which is considered the final arbiter of disputes, is deemed biased, citizens tend to take the law into their own hands most times without recourse to the established systems of justice delivery.”

“ interpretation of the law is tilted in our favour all the time, people will start accusing the judiciary and will not have the confidence that they need,” he added.

Change Lawyers If…

But Sylvester Sarpong Soprano, reacting to these issues during a panel discussion on Neat FM’s Me Man Nti programme said the problem might not be coming from the Judiciary; “maybe their lawyers are not good enough”

“I feel when the Judiciary makes a decision we need to go with it because, in litigation, you win some and lose some…when the Judges give a ruling and it’s a 7:0 or 9:0, maybe it means your case was so bad that they couldn’t help but come to that conclusion…

“…when there’s a unanimous ruling, I think a number of factors are involved; probably the Attorney General is too good…if he met the NDC (in court and the case was ruled in his favour), probably their (NDC) lawyers were not good enough…he’s probably done his homework and he’s too brilliant…so there’s nothing wrong with the judiciary, they’re doing their work...” he noted.

According to Soprano, “it appears Asiedu Nketiah and former president John Mahama has issues with this particular Supreme Court because they never said anything about the Atuguba court when they won the election petition; so I’m saddened to see the revolution in their opinion about the judiciary especially as they’re not winning. I think probably they need to take a second look at their representation in court…if you don’t get a good lawyer…you cannot blame the system because you didn’t like the ruling.”