Africa-Press – Ghana. Mr. Felix Kwakye Ofosu, Presidential Spokesman and Minister of State in-charge of Government Communications, says the description given to Adu Lodge, a state facility by suspended Chief Justice Gertrude Torkornoo is unfair.
He said Adu Lodge, the venue for the sitting of the committee probing the petitions for the removal of the Chief Justice, was located close to the Osu Castle in Accra, which was the former seat of Government.
“As I speak, there are Government agencies that operate there. So, it is a public place. Osu Castle is a public place. You can go there to conduct official business,” Mr. Ofosu stated on Wednesday at a press conference at the Presidency in Accra, in response to an earlier one by the suspended Chief Justice.
He said beside the Adu Lodge were private residences owned by Ghanaians who move freely in and out of their residence, even though they were situated very close to the Osu Castle.
“So, the impression that a facility in the vicinity of the Osu Castle necessarily makes it intimidate, or foreboding is completely misplaced. It is unfair. It is not justifiable,” Mr. Ofosu said.
He added: “Now, Adu Lodge is a state facility, which is often used to house high-ranking officials who visit the Republic of Ghana. It belongs to the state.”
The Presidential Spokesman said the decision to use that place (Adu Lodge) was not that of the Government or President John Dramani Mahama.
He said the committee probing the suspended Chief Justice requested that they needed facilities of a certain status that would house their activities and that would facilitate a smooth running of the proceedings, and that facility was available.
He said Adu Lodge was equipped with modern amenities that would facilitate the work of the committee, adding that the state only offered it upon the request of the committee.
“Let me also state that that facility is not intimidating. It is like any regular state facility where business can be conducted to the extent that it is put in the right shape,” Mr. Ofosu said.
He reiterated that wherever these proceedings were held, it was still being done as clearly stipulated in Article 146(8) of the 1992 Constitution.
“So, it doesn’t matter where it is held,” he said.
Mr. Ofosu said any security measure put in place was only intended to secure the place so that persons not authorised to be part of the proceedings did not come there and create any inconvenience.
He said he believed that even if the hearings were held at the court’s premises, it would still be under significant security controls to ensure that only authorised persons had access to the place.
Mr. Ofosu said: “So to describe Adu Lodge in the terms that Her Ladyship, the Chief Justice used was most unfair and unjustifiable; it sought to obscure the process and bring in unrelated matters that seek to cast some aspersion or ill motives on the government for affording the committee a place to do its work.”
The Government, he said, had no interest in violating the Constitution by going to the merits of the case; stating that, that was why the Government had refrained from doing that.
He said the press conference by the Chief Justice was most regrettable because President Mahama was committed to upholding the rule of law.
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