Former Deputy-Attorney General, Dr Dominic Ayine, has said he stands by the comments he made at an academic seminar last month and which have been deemed disrespectful of the Judiciary.
The legislator and key member of the legal team of the opposition National Democratic Congress, (NDC) has been dragged to the Disciplinary Committee of the General Legal Council (GLC), the regulator of the law profession and legal education in Ghana by Chief Justice, Justice Kwasi Anin-Yeboah.
The Chief Justice has said in a petition filed at his behest that the statements Dr Ayine is alleged to have made during the roundtable discussion on Presidential Election Petitions and their impact on Africa's Democracy scandalised the Judiciary and the justices who sat on the 2020 presidential election petition.
Dr Ayine, Bolgatanga East legislator, a member of the legal team of the Petitioner in that election petition hearing, allegedly questioned the independence of the Judiciary due to the manner the Supreme Court adjudicated the matter.
“These comments are made against the backdrop of the Supreme Court discharging Dr Ayine on a charge of contempt for similar comments made against members of the Supreme Court during the Election Petition hearing. Dr Ayine apologised profusely when he appeared before the Court on the Contempt charge and admitted to having made comments which were unbecoming of a Lawyer of his standing and a former Deputy Attorney-General,†the petition signed by the Judicial Secretary, Justice Cynthia Pamela Addo, stated.
The Disciplinary Committee of the GLC subsequently wrote to Dr Ayine for his response in a letter dated May 31, 2021, on the petition.
READ ALSO: Judiciary not above criticism – NDC tells CJ, stands with Dr Ayine
In response to the Committee, Dr Ayine said after reading through the contents of the complaint to the Committee he is convinced that the statements he made at the event organised by the Centre for Democratic Development he is convinced that his comments are blameless.
“With all due respect to the Chief Justice, I wish to state that I stand by the opinion I expressed at the said roundtable discussion. I am firmly convinced that the opinion I expressed neither imperilled the independence of the judiciary nor did it cause any actual or potential harm to the reputation of the individual justices who sat on the case,†Dr Ayine defended.
Meanwhile, the NDC has backed Dr Ayine's position on the matter.
The NDC at a press conference addressed by its General Secretary, Johnson Asiedu Nketia, said they stand with Dr Ayine against what they described as a "campaign of judicial tyranny being waged by the Chief Justice of the Republic against lawyers who identify with the NDC."
Â