Ace investigative journalist, Mr. Manasseh Azure Awuni has condemned President Akuffo Addo over his criticism of former President John Mahama’s recent remarks that his administration has deliberately packed the bench.

Mr. Manasseh said he is surprised President Akuffo Addo who has appointed an NPP parliamentary candidate to the High Court and even promoted him to Supreme Court would fume at the Former President and others who critiqued the judiciary of biases.

“If your indiscretion and packing the bench do not undermine the judiciary, then Mahama, who is saying it, cannot undermine the judiciary”.
Manasseh Awuni

He also chastised the Ghana Bar Association for offering its yearly Bar Conference platform to the President and the ruling party to vilify the main opposition party.

Felix Kwakye Ofosu hits back at President Akuffo Addo

Former President John Dramani Mahama’s political aide, Felix Ofosu Kwakye has also responded to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s condemnation of his boss’ comments about alleged judicial prejudice by calling them the “most irresponsible and reckless” that any president has ever made.

Ofosu Kwakye claimed that Akufo-Addo’s assertion had supported President Mahama’s contention that the judiciary was stacked with justices who were supporters of the current government’s New Patriotic Party (NPP).

“Nobody is surprised that the legal wing of the NPP also known as the Ghana Bar Association (GBA) has given this platform to President Akufo-Addo and the Attorney General to throw tantrums and attack the person of the former president. It vindicates the position we raise that Ghana’s entire judicial and legal architecture is an NPP appendage. Number two, the president has said some powerful things since he took power and this has to come as the most irresponsible and reckless statement any president can make.”
Felix Kwakye Ofosu

The National Democratic Congress parliamentary candidate for Abura Asebu Kwamankese for the 2024 General Elections also accused President Akufo Addo of hypocrisy, pointing to the president’s history of making controversial statements about the judiciary.

Meanwhile, the Ghana Bar Association (GBA) has condemned President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for using its conference platform to campaign against former President John Mahama.

The GBA said it shared Akufo-Addo’s concerns about the independence of the judiciary, but that it did not agree with his methods.

According to its statement, the Ghana Bar Association believes that the best way to protect the independence of the judiciary is to ensure that all politicians, regardless of their party affiliation, respect the rule of law and the separation of powers.

President Akufo-Addo had earlier on Monday during the Ghana Bar Association 2023 Bar Conference in Cape Coast strongly criticized President Mahama for his recent remarks alleging that the judiciary had been packed with judges aligned with the ruling NPP party.

He described Mahama’s comments as “very dangerous” and said they constituted a “brazen attack on the independence of the judiciary”.