Member of Parliament for Builsa South and Deputy Ranking Member on the Education Committee, Dr Clement Apaak, has stated that there is absolutely nothing wrong with the former President and flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress, John Dramani Mahama’s comment that NDC lawyers must be prepared to go to the bench to balance the current situation.

According to him, there is no doubt that President Akufo-Addo has appointed to the judiciary, especially the supreme Court, pro-NPP judges including card-bearing members of the New Patriotic Party.

He said this in reaction to calls by the former General Secretary of the party, Koku Anyidoho, for the party to disassociate itself from the former President’s comment.

“Nothing wrong with the comments made by JM regarding the current state of our judiciary. Is it not a fact that NADAA has packed the bench; and appointed card-carrying NPP members as judges?”
Dr Clement Apaak

Dr. Apaak further lamented that until political actors do away with hypocrisy, Ghana’s democracy will continue to be on the brink of collapse.

“FACT. When NADAA was packing you saw nothing wrong, right? JM is the leader of the party NOT the Chairman and his executive and you know it.”
Dr Clement Apaak

CDD-Ghana Reacts to Mahama’s Remarks

Meanwhile, the Centre for Democratic Governance (CDD), has revealed that former President, John Mahama’s statement which called on NDC lawyers to be appointed to the bench is a detriment to Ghana’s democracy.

Speaking on the issue, Senior Programs Officer of CDD-Ghana, Paul Aborampah Mensah, said the former President’s remarks could jeopardize Ghana’s constitutional order.

“It is a dim to Ghana’s democracy; it is a dim for our fight for equality of law under our constitutional regime. It is dim for justice for all. If I hear politicians and especially people who have held the highest position on our land saying this, then probably they are trying to tell us the experiences they’ve had and probably the kind of structures they had when they were in office.”
Paul Aborampah Mensah

In his address to the 3rd Annual Lawyers Conference of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) on Saturday, September 2nd, former President and NDC flagbearer, John Dramani Mahama, criticized President Akuffo Addo and the ruling New Patriotic Party for purposefully packing the judiciary, particularly the Supreme Courts, to avoid accountability when it is out of power.

He claimed that the NPP administration had a systematic strategy for appointing its supporters to the bench, which has resulted in a judiciary full of justices who are sympathetic to the NPP. In his speech on Saturday, the former President urged the NDC attorneys to start considering a career on the Bench to equalize the issue.

Prior to this, Mr Mahama made similar remarks about the judiciary on August 28th, 2022, at the 2nd Annual Lawyers Conference. He indicated that it would take a new Chief Justice to restore the “battered image” of the Ghanaian judiciary.