The Member of Parliament for Suame, John Darko, has berated President Mahama for his suspension of Chief Justice, Gertrude Torkornoo, insisting that the action is not rooted in law but is part of a well-orchestrated political agenda being pushed by the National Democratic Congress (NDC).
According to Darko, the decision taken by President John Dramani Mahama on Tuesday, April 22, to suspend the Chief Justice after a prima facie case was established against her is a direct attack on the independence of the judiciary.
He argued that while the move has been cloaked in constitutional procedure, the true intent is to undermine the judicial arm of government for political gain.
The suspension, which was based on three separate petitions and executed under Article 146(6) of the 1992 Constitution following advice from the Council of State, has sparked intense debate across legal and political circles.
Speaking on Channel One TV’s’ The Big Issue on Saturday, May 3, the MP dismissed the legal justification for the suspension and argued that political motives are at the core of the decision.
“I have maintained that we are just circling the issue. We can talk about the law and the GBA, Association of Lawyers and others, but as for me, my point has always been that we as a country, we have now decided that the independence of judiciary means now to us by this act of suspension of the CJ and the defense by the members of the public, especially our friends in the NDC,” he said.
“The heart of this is politics. There is nothing legal about this. You can talk about the execution of Article 143, whatever, but it is the politics of it which is at play. This is a political agenda by the NDC being properly executed,” he asserted.
Meanwhile, the Private legal practitioner and a member of the Ghana Bar Association (GBA), Justice Abdulai, has thrown his support behind the decision by President Mahama to suspend Chief Justice Gertrude Torkornoo, highlighting that the action is constitutionally justified and backed by proper legal procedure.