Africa-Press – Ghana. President John Dramani Mahama is committed to upholding the rule of law with regards to petitions calling for the removal of Chief Justice Gertrude Torkornoo.
Mr Felix Kwakye Ofosu, the Presidential Spokesman and Minister of State in-charge of Government Communications, strongly refuted allegations that there was a political agenda to remove the Chief Justice from office.
Speaking at a press conference at the Presidency in Accra on Wednesday, in response to an earlier one by the Chief Justice, Mr Ofosu noted that the suspended Chief Justice insinuated that there was some political agenda at play to oust her and that this entire process was a result of same.
“Let me place on record without fear of contradiction and let me be clear that no such political agenda exists,” Mr Ofosu said.
He said the President took an oath to which he was incidentally sworn by the Chief Justice herself.
He noted that in that oath, the President swore to abide by the 1992 Constitution.”
Mr Ofosu said President Mahama was enjoined to act in a particular way when he receives petitions of the sort that he had received; adding that that was all the President had done.
“He has had no choice in the matter. The President cannot say that he has a view about how things should be done,” the Presidential Spokesman said.
“And therefore, if petitions have come, he will fail to act. If he did that, he himself would be in breach of the Constitution.”
Mr Ofosu said therefore, the President had been enjoined to act as any responsible leader or President of the Republic of Ghana would be required to do as stipulated by the 1992 Constitution.
“We cannot have a sacred cow mentality in the way that we handle state affairs,” he said.
“Every single public official from the President to the Speaker, to the Chief Justice, to Supreme Court Judges, to Ministers, to all public office holders are bound by the provisions of Ghanaian law.
“Indeed, it was the former Australian Prime Minister, Kevin Rath, who once said that ‘when you join the game, you play by the rules’.”
Mr Ofosu said therefore no public official was allowed to raise him or herself above the laws of Ghana.
“It does not matter how sensitive your position is. Once Ghanaian law dictates that certain processes be undertaken in respect of some alleged misconduct, the rules must come to play.”
This, he said was the only guiding principle that President Mahama had operated by in all of this.
“So, any claim, any inference, any imputation of a political motive to the President in respect of these processes are unfounded, they are false and cannot be allowed to stand. And I wish to place that on record,” Mr Ofosu said.
“As yet, absolutely no evidence of the same has been furnished in any way. And therefore, I am minded to strongly reject that effort.”
Mr Ofosu said unfortunately, the Chief Justice herself had added to this commentary, which initially was the tone of elements of the opposition.
He said it was deeply regrettable that this should happen when the President had been open and conducted himself in strict compliance with the constitution of Ghana.
Mr Ofosu said the Government respects the rights of the suspended Chief Justice, to express any view that she holds about the matter in question, to the extent that it is consistent with the rules.
This, he said, was because the Constitution makes it clear what the processes were in determining the matter of the sort that they were engaged with.
He said the Constitution requires confidentiality on the part of all parties; adding that it was the reason the Presidency had refrained from commentary on the matter beyond stating what the President had done in compliance with the constitution.
He said it would have been desirable that that constitutional provision was respected by the suspended Chief Justice; so that they do not have to engage in public commentary up until the time that the Committee looking to the matter makes their determination.
He said the Government was compelled, however, to correct certain misimpressions that were created at the suspended Chief Justice’s briefing.
Mr Ofosu said nobody had been able to ascribe any known verifiable constitutional breach by the President in the way that he had handled this matter.
He said from the very first steps in this matter, the President had kept fidelity to the Constitution and had respected the spirit and letter of the constitution; saying “Everything he has done has been by the book.”
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