File Photo of Ghana's parliament
The NDC Members of Parliament are on record to have booed and met the appearance of the Chief Justice, Mr Kwasi Anin-Yeboah, in parliament with hoots of derision. The Chief Justice accompanied His Excellency the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, to the parliament on Tuesday, 10 March 2021, for the President to deliver his yearly State of the Nation Address.
What was the reason for the MPs denigrating the Chief Justice and by extension themselves, although unknowing to them? From the public perception, they had done so to register their disagreement with the Supreme Court judgment to election 2020 petition filed with the court by former President-cum-defeated-Presidential-candidate John Dramani Mahama. The hearing and ruling of the case was presided by the Chief Justice hence the despicable attitude by the MPs towards him as soon as they sighted him in parliament.
Sorry to say, the NDC MPs as lawmakers, do participate in law-making but they don’t comprehend the very laws they make or certify, let alone, being capable of interpreting them. If they had the ability and capability to understand and interpret the laws they themselves make or vote on and the articles in the Ghana 1992 Constitution and their applications, I doubt they would act childishly as they did.
Laws are made to be respected and enforced. The tenets of the Constitution are to be implemented as they are, understood, interpreted and obeyed. Similarly so are the rules of court in their various Constitutional Instrument (C. I) forms as are in operation in Ghana.
Case Laws, established court proceedings or procedures and best court practices are to be adhered to in combination with the laws as are relevant to cases brought before the court for the determination of fairness and justice in lawsuits.
From the election 2020 petition as televised nationally and possibly watched by interested persons worldwide, the Supreme Court bench performed marvellously well. They acted expeditiously and professionally. They demonstrated their in-depth comprehension, application and interpretations of the laws, the Constitution and case laws as were relevant to the petition.
They patiently accommodated all the seemingly verbose, repetitive and dodgy motions on notice upon motions on notice and applications upon applications as were irrelevantly mounted by the petitioner’s Lead Counsel Tsatsu Tsikata, alias “Mr Ako te Brofo”. What else did the NDC MPs most of whom are lawyers by study or profession expect from the Supreme Court bench?
In court, we talk law. In court, we don’t talk English. English is just a tool or vehicle for the delivery of the law you talk. So, if you believe in the oration or fluency of your English to win a court case, I am afraid, you’ve goofed, although in Ghana, the knowledge of English is the criterion for a man’s great learning.
The NDC MPs had better go to read the Supreme Court ruling in detail and do a research on their own to see if the procedure, laws, case laws and whatever, as were applied by the judges in relevancy to the case, were not in order.
Why would the NDC as a party with their MPs and supporting dubious Civil Service Organisations (CSO) and bunch of educated-illiterates, expect the judges to misapply the laws in their favour? Do the MPs don’t know that a court case is won on the strength of the plaintiff’s case but not on the weakness of the defendant’s case hence the plaintiff always bearing the burden of proof?
How do the NDC MPs expect the judges to decide in favour of the crying baby John Dramani Mahama when he walked into court barehanded? He filed his petition without a shred of credible, permissible and acceptable evidence but with three discredited witnesses of whom two were described as, and seen to be telling, fanciful tales.
It is just unfortunate to find people making laws for the country behaving so irresponsibly towards a Chief Justice who has discharged his duties so creditably. If he had done contrary to the laws, then the MPs would be justified doing what they did to him but not when he did the right thing as was required of him by law.
My respect for most Ghana MPs will be diminishing by the day should they continue to behave so irresponsibly in a manner as to weaken the third arm of government, thus, the judiciary.
Shame on the NDC MPs who booed and hooted at the Chief Justice.
