Bribery allegation: Muntaka did not think ahead - JUSAG President

Alexander Nartey, the President of the Judicial Service Staff Association of Ghana has disclosed that the apology offered by the Member of Parliament for Asawase Constituency, Mohammed Muntaka Mubarak over his bribery allegation against a justice of the Supreme Court does not bring finality to the matter.

According to him, the Chief Justice and the leadership and the Judicial Council will have to deliberate over whether the apology is enough to cleanse the ‘sins’ of the MP.

Speaking on Neat FM, Alexander Nartey noted with concern that the Minority Chief Whip did not consider the gravity of the allegation and its impact on the judiciary and legislature before making the comments.

He was unhappy that an MP of Muntaka’s status/calibre will make such ‘unfortunate and avoidable’ statement about another arm of government.

“Chief Justice set up a process to investigate the case so it is the Chief Justice, Judicial Council and the process that will determine the value of this apology. They will determine if the apology is enough to bring closure to the matter or they will still proceed.

“My opinion is that the statement made by the MP which has culminated into this apology was very unfortunate. He could have avoided it and I think he didn’t think ahead of the implications of what he said as an MP before he said it,” he said.

Alexander Nartey urged politicians particularly parliamentarians to learn a useful lesson from the issue.

“It should be a lesson to parliamentarians and partisan politicians in the country that no political party is bigger than Ghana. Ghana has been there before any party so no party is bigger than the country,” he said.

Muntaka Mubarak on Saturday, February 6, 2021, apologized for some allegations he made about a Supreme Court judge in the aftermath of the election for the Speaker of Parliament.

Muntaka in his statement said: “I have reflected deeply and consulted broadly on the aftermath and disclosure I made during an interview on Joy News TV on 10th January 2021.”

“The disclosure was made based on a report from a trusted colleague which was that she had been approached by a Justice of the Supreme Court Judge seeking to entice her to vote for a particular candidate during the contest for the Speakership of Parliament”.