Step Aside For Investigation- Asiedu Nketia To CJ
The National Democratic Congress has called for the immediate resignation of the Chief Justice, Justice Anin Yeboah over a US$5 million bribery scandal.
Addressing the media, the General Secretary of the party Mr. Johnson Asiedu Nketia said a disciplinarian cannot discipline himself.
The name of the Chief Justice has popped up in a scandal between a lawyer, Lawyer Kwasi Afrifa and his client, Ogyedom Obranu Kwesi Atta II in which the lawyer alleged that Ogyedom had fired him after he (the client) told him that the Chief Justice had promised to help him win his case at a bribe of US$5million.
Following this, the Chief Justice wrote to the Criminal Investigations Department of the Ghana Police Service to investigate the matter.
The NDC however has called on him to step aside for investigation to be conducted.
“Good governance dictates that the Chief Justice steps aside during the pendency of the investigations by the Judicial Service relative to the issue of alleged misconduct on his part as a Supreme Court judge.”
“It means that the person who is the disciplinarian cannot be disciplining himself. So if you want to go according to the Judicial Services Act, then the person who is the subject of the allegation must step aside so that other officials will take over during the pendency of the investigation and if he is cleared, he returns back to post.”
“The Chief Justice cannot be a Judge in his own course and cannot set up a committee to investigate allegations of misconduct against himself”, he quoted.
They also called on government to establish an independent commission of enquiry to probe the allegation.
“Also, we think that due to the considerable public interest involved in this matter, another potentially effective and transparent approach in the circumstance will be a full blown public enquiry. This can be done by invoking Article 278 of the 1992 Constitution.”
“Under which parliament can by resolution compel the President to set up a Commission of Enquiry to look into the matters at hand in a transparent manner and make a faithful determination thereof”, he said.
Source: Opemsuo.com/Hajara Fuseini
