NGO head calls for the Chief Justice’s resignation

The Reverend Kwarteng Amening, Executive Director of the Gospel Evangelical Crusades and Providence Foundation (GOEVAC-PFG), a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), on Thursday, called for the resignation of the current Chief Justice (CJ), Mrs Justice Georgina Theodora Wood.

The Foundation, which is a civil society NGO, accused the CJ of breeching the Constitution by openly associating herself with the New Patriotic Party (NPP), during the 2008 Presidential run-off elections.

Presenting his statement at a press conference in Accra, The Reverend Amening argued that the CJ compromised her position when she yielded to pressures by the NPP during the heat of the 2008 general election, particularly the Presidential run-off, by ordering the court registry to open on a statutory holiday for NPP lawyers to file a court suit.

He said, “During the critical and material moment such as existed in the December 2008 polls, there was unity and friendship between the Judiciary, represented by the CJ and the NPP, instead of the former maintaining neutral grounds”.

The Rev. Amening confessed that though he was among the NPP sympathizers who wanted an injunction order from the court on January 1, 2008, to prevent the Tain elections, he believed the NPP’s action was in desperation from loosing the power they so much desired at that time to hold on to and, therefore, the CJ should not have yielded to the demand.

He also accused the Judiciary of being corrupt and siding with Dr Kwabena Adjei, Chairman of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), in his recent allegations about the Judiciary being corrupt and biased, saying a lot was happening within the Judiciary which could lead to the creation of political tension and a denial of true justice for the people of Ghana.

He claimed that based on the CJ’s current political stand, there was a division among the Judiciary itself along political lines, as some lawyers who may be sympathetic to the NDC would no more feel comfortable working with the CJ. “Based on these issues, she must be replaced, to help remove all doubt and bring back public trust in the Judiciary,” he added.

The Rev. Amening called on President JEA Mills to intervene in the situation and appoint an independent committee in accordance with Constitutional requirements to look into the issues making rounds in the media recently concerning the Judiciary.

Source: GNA