Municipal Chief Executive(MCE) of Awutu Senya East Municipal district, Michael Yaw Ashman Mensah has refuted claims that the Kasoa District Court Magistrate, Felicia Gandeji uses a chamber pot in her office in the absence of washrooms at the court.
 Following a tour of the Kasoa Court in the Central Region by the Chief Justice, reports revealed that the Court Magistrate Ms. Gandeji showed her a chamber pot she uses due to the absence of washrooms at the facility.
This led the Chief Justice to state that the court risked closure by the end of the year if the situation was not rectified.
However, the MCE, responding to the reports has stated that there are eight washrooms at the assembly where the court is located, of which the Magistrate, Felicia Gandeji has been given the key to one for her exclusive use.
“The Chief Justice didn’t express any feeling or if you like perception of any wrong condition here, only for me to get to office and be bombarded with calls from all over the world that we don’t have any toilet facilities at the assembly because the court room that shares the building with the assembly has no toilet facility and for that matter the judge uses chamber pot.
“That is so bad to hear, I’m putting on record that we’ve toilet facilities for the judge in this complex.â€, Mr. Mensah stated.
A member of the communication team of the ruling New Patriotic Party who shared similar sentiments with the MCEÂ has accused the Magistrate of pushing a political agenda for the opposition NDC with her comments.
Below is a copy of his statement:
KASOA MAGISTRATE COURT CHAMBER POT SAGA-JUSTICE FELICIA GANDEJI WAS DOING PR WORK FOR NDC
Ghana in the quest of upholding Freedom and Justice has decided to have three arms of Government to serve as litmus to that course.
These three Arms of Government are Executives, Legistrature and Judiciary.
The Judicial by whatever reason is the most revered among the three and we see the judges who are the main players of the judiciary as sacred and next to the Creator of the universe but I think it is about time we pay attention to the actions and sayings of some of the judges and let them know that the survival of our democracy largely depends upon them and for that matter they shouldn’t do anything that will jeopardize our democracy.
A typical example of what judges could do to signal negative impression about them which at the end can have a negative impact on our democracy is what Kasoa District Magistrate, Felicia Gandeji said when Chief Justice visited them at Kasoa in the central region.
A cursory look at what she said clearly shows that she was doing PR work for the major opposition party, National Democratic Congress (NDC) and it is important we address her as such.
Her statement clearly shows that she has been using chamber pot for many years so the simple questions an ordinary Ghanaian will ask are:
Why didn’t she raise this issue when NDC was in power.
Why didn’t she add it to the concern letter they presented to the Chief Justice to make it official but choose to say it open if indeed she wasn’t pushing any political party agenda.
Now it is important for me to set the record straight and make Ghanaians know that the District Magistrate was dancing to the tune of NDC.
My checks from the MCE for Awutu Senya East Municipal, Mr. Michael Esuman show that the Assembly together with Kasoa magistrate court were using a rented building at Krispol city at Kasoa and the place was so congested that some heads of departments were operating under trees.
In the case of the court, the courtroom and offices were so small and the registrar was operating from the kitchen of the building; the judge’s office was without a fan and was like a hell.
Quite apart from that the rent was draining the account of the assembly, can one imagine that this small building was causing the assembly Ghc12,000 every month.
Therefore, a decision was taken for the Assembly to move and occupy a building meant for CEDECOM project which was not in use and this move was done with the permission of the central Region Minister, Mr. Kwamena Duncun who was on a working visit.
All these arrangements were done to save cost and also to have a nice office for our judiciary Service.
Prior to the relocation, our able MCE personally contacted the Judge to have her delegation form part of the relocation arrangement so as to assist the Municipal works Engineer to make the place fit for use by the court.
The Judge eventually requested for curtains for the courtroom, creation of another entrance for court users, and air conditioning unit for her office as well as water to be used for the toilet facilities.
I can confidently say that there is no issue about toilet facility for the Judge as she is trying to make Ghanaians believe and in fact, her washroom is one of the neatest washrooms in our courts.
All these were done immediately she requested and the Judicial Secretary wrote to the Assembly to appreciate the efforts made by the Assembly.
Therefore, if all these have done by the NPP Government for the court and you turned round and said that you are using chamber pot , then the obvious conclusion is that you are saying it to make NPP Government look bad and I don’t think those who are also saying that you are like NDC communication member are far from the truth.
We are not moved by what the District Magistrate has said because the MCE is on course in pushing the agenda of our president.
However, we will not sit down unconcerned for any public servant to hide behind NDC to paint a bad picture of our government, never, not at all.
Ike Yeboah Asante
NPP COMMUNICATION TEAM Member