Error-ridden letter from presidency clear case of incompetence - Nii Kpakpo Addo

Nii Kpakpo Samoa Addo, Lawyer of suspended High Court Justices, Justice Uuter Paul Dery, Justice Mustapha Logoh and Justice Gilbert Ayisi Addo, has said the communication department at the presidency needs a total overhaul to prevent avoidable errors that is destroying the credibility of the seat of government.

His statement follows a communique from the Presidency signed by the Director of Communications, Eugene Arhin, that President Nana Akufo-Addo has on advice from the Judicial Council suspended his clients with immediate effect.

Lawyer Addo argues that the portion of the statement that states that “the suspension follows the establishment of a prima facie case against the four Justices, by the Committee set up by the Chief Justice” is a clear indication that due diligence was not done by the Director of Communications before the statement was released.

Speaking to ghanaweb.com, Mr. Addo said the refusal of the presidency to accept responsibility for the error and issue a rejoinder on the matter undermines confidence in the office.

“The director has said that he was only acting based on a letter from the Chief Justice’s office. The Judicial Secretary has acknowledged the errors in there. The people are already on suspension so how do you suspend them again, so the letter and the statement has no effect. It doesn’t make sense. It undermines confidence in the presidency because it makes it look like the persons there don’t know what they are doing.

This is unfortunate because I assumed they would have come out with a formal statement or something but now it’s all about shifting blame. It doesn’t play well to our governance system and it’s about time that office is looked at.

From the unfortunate plagiarism issue at the beginning of the administration to one mistake after the other, it doesn’t make any document coming from that office worthy of attention. Indeed, if I receive any document from the office of the president I will throw it in the dustbin because it doesn’t make any sense. I will rather go to the ministry and look for a letter from the ministry to deal with,” he noted.

He mentioned that, although his office was not going to take up the matter, it was of importance that the current administration was up to date on such matters before getting involved.

“We are not going to make too much noise about this because, for us, it is done and dusted, we are really focusing on what is going to happen on May 30th.

We are engaged with the arm of government that is involved in this litigation with us which is the Ministry Of Justice and the Attorney Generals Department, but we have to explain our side of the story so people understand that nothing is being done in respect to this particular matter because it is in court and the people who are responsible are respecting those decisions of the court.”