Hypocrite Chief Justice should rather be before the disciplinary committee – NDC MP

Ibrahim Murtala Muhammed, MP for Tamale Central, has slammed the Chief Justice, Kwasi Anin-Yeboah for his decision to drag Dr Dominic Ayine, MP for Bolgatanga East before the disciplinary committee of the Ghana Legal Council (GLC).

According to him, the Chief Justice’s stance on Dr Dominic Ayine’s comments on the decision of the Supreme Court Justices on the Election Petition is only to “deny Mr. Ayine’s right to speak”.

Speaking on Citi TV monitored by GhanaWeb, the MP noted, the Chief Justice is being hypocritical because he had also participated in programmes that sought to attack a decision made by Justices of the Supreme Court on a specific case.

“The hypocrisy of the Chief Justice is telling. Just a few weeks before this petition, the Chief Justice participated in a similar political programme that was considered to be attacking a decision made by the Justices of the Supreme Court. The purpose [of the programme] was to challenge the decision of the Supreme Court. I am just exposing the hypocrisy- that he participated in a programme that sought to attack the decision of the Supreme Court in the Re: Akoto case,” Murtala Muhammed explained.

The Chief Justice in a letter written by the Judicial Secretary said the Chief Justice took issue with the views expressed by Dr. Ayine on the

2020 Election Petition Judgment on a CDD-Ghana platform.

Dr. Ayine was accused in the letter of stating that, “the Supreme Court’s failure to apply the rules of procedures as well as the consistent and continuous dismissal of the petitioners’ applications or reliefs were the basis of his assertion.”

Dr. Ayine during the Election Petition was charged with contempt by the Supreme Court for words he used in his commentary on the election petition case which suggests that the Justices at the Supreme Court have pre-determined the petition.

But Murtala Muhammed is of the view that, for the sake of objectivity, the development during the petition involving Ayine, should be delinked from the Chief Justice’s current petition.

“It does not matter what lawyer Ayine went through during the petition case. Let us insulate the processes of the petition case and what happened with regard to the issues that were heard by the Supreme Court justices and what is happening now. What matters is that he is adding knowledge to the legal fraternity. Views he certainly could not have expressed when the petition was being heard by the Supreme Court,” he asserted.

Muhammed added, the focus of the discussion regarding Dr Ayine being hauled before the disciplinary Committee of GLC should rather be on attempts by the Chief Justice to discourage freedom of speech.

“I do not think the right to speak is limited to a particular group of persons. Unfortunately, the Chief Justice and the judiciary, in particular, are doing everything possible to truncate this process and trying to deny people their right to speak,” Murtala Muhammed stressed.