Re-introduction of Nkrumahism and Appealing to the Court of Public Opinion.

On December 13, 1963, the first Ghanaian Chief Justice, Sir ArkuKorsah, was sacked from his position and the bench. Two days earlier, hepassed a verdict of “Not Guilty” on three CPP gurus who were standing trial for the assassination attempt on Nkrumah, a year before at Kulungugu. The president was not pleased at all and immediately forced a bill through Parliament and a law was passed which gave him powers to sack any judge from the bench and order re-trials, to further enhance his status as a dictator. He went on to dismiss more judges to have absolute control on the judiciary.

To control the security of this nation, Nkrumah started dismissing top military personnel and to put the traditional authority under his thumb, he passed a law which made him the only one to enstool/enskin or remove a chief from the stool/skin.

Rawlings also enhanced his form of dictatorship when three judges were adopted and killed to put some fear in the judiciary.

He implemented a political theory called, “To enrich the poor, the rich must be impoverished!” And so, most of Akan-Ghanaian owned businesses and industries were destroyed, less they supported a political course against him.

Fast forward to this Ninth Parliament of the Fourth Republic, and it looks like there is a re-introduction of Nkrumahism. We hearabout thirteen top military personnel have been removed from office and the IGP, Dr Dampare,will no longer partake in even three months of this new regime.

Now attention has been turned to the judiciary. For all indications, it looks like this Mahama administration is going to make sure it replaces most of the judges with its own hand-picked legal practitioners. Her Ladyship, Chief Justice Getrude Torkonoo is the first target. Somehow, we are told that three Ghanaians, petitioned that she must be removed. Article 146(1), states the grounds on which the Chief Justice can be removed.  “A Justice of the Superior Court or a Chairman of a Regional Tribunal shall not be removed from office except for stated misbehaviour or incompetence or on ground of inability to perform the functions of his office arising from infirmity of Body or mind.”

None of the three requirements needed to remove a justice of the Superior Court Justice can be found about our current Chief Justice; moreover, Ghanaians have not yet been told of the contents of the petitions and who petitioned.

If it is some verdicts that she gave that displeased the NDC, let Ghanaians remember that the verdict on the 2012 Elections Petition was just bonkers, even as a Justice Atuguba could wave off a Constitutional provision in Art.49 (2), and this later created confusion in law classes.Even though that could be grounds for petitioning his removal, he was left to walk, freely.

But why the Judiciary? NDC and the socialists in Ghanaian always condemn court verdicts that go against them, saying they are politically motivated. That aside, what is worrying is that maybe, this new administration has some package for Ghanaians that only the courts can make it legal. And so, the bench must be full of its people.

What is more worrying is that, a precedent is being set andany new government that comes, the Supreme Court will be changed and many other judges replaced. Of course, the military and police chiefs will also be removed. And do not forget, during elections, party thugs can go to collation centers and decide who won the elections.

Other worrying things include the appeal to the court of public opinion by the AG, Dr Ayine, and other high rankers. When someone is found out to be corrupt, his house will be invaded by armed security men; then allegations against him would first be made public with strong points as persecuting lawyers make when submitting introductory statements against defendants in court.

This is just a way to psych-up the public against the suspect before going to court. And with public opinion against him, no judge will attempt to find him, “not guilty.”

And today, Cecilia Dapaah is in court for what can be said to have allowed her valuables to be stolen. That is how Ghanaians, see it.

And the former Governor of Bank of Ghana’s house was invaded by armed security and we hear some valuables were allegedly stolen. Now we are told, he had installed gargets which could make him see everything going on in Bank of Ghana.

But how can we believe this, when Dr. Ernest Addison stopped a previous NDC government contract with Sibton Switch Systems Ltd which would have cost Ghana $1.2 billion. The project was re-awarded under the Nana Addo’s administration and it cost less than $100 million.For that Dr. Addison was targeted by the NDC and smeared with corruption during the previous administration.

And talking about invasion of people’s home, it is on social media that the deputy presidential spokesperson, Shamima Muslim, justified this by saying, it was information gathering. Was there a coup on December 7, 2024? Precedents are being set, so no one should complain in the future.

The question to ask is this, in the same way as Nkrumah amended our 1956 multi-party Constitution to a one-party state with him as president for life, is this NDC planning to do something similar?

Hon. Daniel Dugan

Editor’s note: Views expressed in this article do not represent that of The Chronicle

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