Tsatsu Tsikata must stop attacking judiciary... - Sir John

The General Secretary of the New Patriotic Party, Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie, has descended heavily on counsel for the 3rd respondent in the just ended presidential election petition, for his unwarranted attacks on one of the Justices of the Supreme Court.

Tsatsu Tsikata, who spoke on TV3’s Hot Issues on Saturday, accused Justice Anim Yeboah of allowing his political affiliations to cloud his judgment. Mr. Tsikata said Justice Anim-Yeboah consistently took an opposing stance against the NDC’s arguments and position as far as the case was concerned, from the onset because he was appointed as a judge by President Kufuor.


However, the NPP General Secretary popularly referred to as Sir John, described Tsatsu Tsikata’s attacks as being without basis and clearly a calculated attempt by him and the NDC to begin their attacks on the judiciary.


According to Sir John, there were numerous instances during the trial where an 8-1 ruling was given by the court in certain matters and never was there an instance where Justice Anin Yeboah was the only dissenting judge in such a situation.


He further noted that four of the judges did not find anything wrong with the irregularities highlighted as having occurred in the December 2012 election, and yet neither the NPP nor its lawyers have come out to attack these judges.


“If going by Tsatsu Tsikata’s logic, Justice Anin Yeboah was appointed by Kufuor and as such owes his loyalty to NPP, then what do we say about the four judges who decided that no irregularity occurred in the 2012 elections to warrant a nullification of the tainted votes?” Sir John asked.

Continuing, Sir John asked: “Again, if I’m to go by Tsatsu’s logic, did Justices Atuguba, Gbadegbe and Akoto Bamfo, who voted decided that no infraction took place in the December 2012 election and that the petition was without merit, do so because they were all appointed by the NDC under President Rawlings and late President Mills?”


Sir John further intimated that if Justice Anin Yeboah was truly biased in favour of the petitioners, he would have upheld and not dismissed the petitioners’ claims on duplicate serial numbers, unknown polling stations and polling stations with same polling station codes.


Sir John admonished the NDC to call its “hawks” to order as their continued attacks on the judiciary were not helpful.


Sir John noted that if Tsatsu Tsikata was a very brave man, he should have made his comments during the trial and not wait for the case to end before attacking Justice Anin Yeboah.


“The consistent attacks on the 3rd arm of government by functionaries and surrogates of the NDC must cease. It is not helpful for our democratic dispensation to always tag a judge as belonging to one political party or another. It must stop,” Sir John added.