The President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has urged the Ghanaian people to reject the former President of the Republic and 2024 NDC presidential candidate, John Dramani Mahama, in the 2024 elections.
Speaking at the 2023 Bar Conference of the Ghana Bar Association on Monday, 11th September 2023, the President stated that in some common law countries, particularly in the United States of America, the political colour of judges is a legitimate topic of public discourse.
“Indeed, judges at the District and State levels, within the federal structure of the American Government, are elected officials, and, even though judges at the federal level, including those of the Federal Court of Appeals and the US Supreme Court, are appointed by the President, with the consent of the Senate, their political colouring is generally well-known and accepted,” he said.
Historically, President Akufo-Addo explained that this has not been the case in Ghana, largely because of the critical, controlling role of the Judicial Council, a non-partisan body chaired by the Chief Justice, in the process of judicial appointments.
“It has meant that judicial appointments are conducted essentially on the basis of professional merit and suitability. Appointments to the lower courts, the High Court and the Court of Appeal are done by the President, exclusively on the advice of the Judicial Council,” he said.
The President continued, “In the case of appointments to the Supreme Court, because of its unique position in our judicial structure, there are the additional requirements of the consultation of the Council of State and the approval of Parliament. In the overwhelming number of cases of justices-designate to the Supreme Court, that approval has been given on a bi-partisan basis. You can count on the fingers of a hand the number of justices-designate whose approval met less than unanimous consent.”
The President indicated that he had to go into the matter in some detail because of a new concept that has been recently introduced into our public discourse by no less a public figure than the 4th President of the 4th Republic, the perennial NDC presidential candidate, John Dramani Mahama.
It will be recalled that the former President, at a meeting with NDC lawyers, stated that President Akufo-Addo has packed the courts with so-called “NPP judges”, and that one of the key purposes of a putative NDC victory in 2024 will be to enable him balance the courts with so-called “NDC judges”.
“Not only are these concepts of “NPP” and “NDC” judges new in our public discourse, they are also extremely dangerous, and represent the most brazen attack on the independence of the judiciary by any allegedly responsible politician of the 4th Republic. They provide another reason, if more were needed, why right-thinking citizens should ensure the defeat in 2024 of the man whom the first Special Prosecutor identified as Government Official No.1, in the still unresolved Airbus Bribery Scandal,” he added.
