The Alliance for Social Equity and Public Accountability (ASEPA) has criticised President Nana Akufo-Addo for dismissing a petition to impeach the Chief Justice, Kwasi Anin-Yeboah.
Executive Director of ASEPA, Mensah Thompson, has accused the President of disrespecting Ghana’s laws.
“President Akufo-Addo has shown that he has absolutely no respect for the laws considering what has been done and the effect of such backlash,†he said.
According to him, the Constitution stipulates that “the President, upon receipt of such a petition, must act in consultation with the Council of State to appoint a committee consisting two Justices of the Supreme Court and three other persons who are not members of the Council of State, nor Members of Parliament, nor lawyers to inquire into the petition and make a recommendation.â€
But, Mr Thompson stated, the report from the Council of State was not made known to the petitioner therefore they are not certain which report it may be, whether it is that of the President or Council of State.
“The Council of State did their report, we don’t know the contents of the report of the Council of State. The President said he was going to apprise himself or he was going to appraise the Council of State with his findings on an investigation he went to do to ensure that they are on the same page. So if this report that they are reading is actually the report of the Council of State or the report of our President’s own investigation, we don’t know,†he said.
President Nana Akufo-Addo dismissed a petition by ASEPA, a civil society anti-corruption organisation, seeking to remove the Chief Justice, Justice Kwasi Anin-Yeboah, from office.
The President, upon the recommendations of the Council of State, determined that the application by ASEPA was unmeritorious and unwarranted and was devoid of any basis to remove the Chief Justice.
This was contained in a statement issued and signed by him on Monday.
ASEPA had alleged in the July 13, 2021 petition seeking to invoke Article 146 of the Constitution for the removal of the Chief Justice that a private legal practitioner had accused the Chief Justice of demanding a bribe of USD5 million from his client to sway judgment in his favour in a case before the Supreme Court.
The Chief Justice, subsequently, denied the allegation and asked the Criminal Investigations Department of the Ghana Police Service to thoroughly investigate into the matter.
President Akufo-Addo, following the receipt of the petition, referred the matter to the Council of State per of Article 122 (3) and 144 (2) of the Constitution and in line with a Supreme Court ruling that obliges him to consult the Council to decide whether a petition for the removal of a Chief Justice or a Justice of the Supreme Court had a prima facie case for an impeachment process to begin.
The Council of State, consequently, submitted its report to the President on Friday, August 20, 2021.
The report concluded that ASEPA’s petition for the removal of the Chief Justice on the grounds of “stated misbehavior†is “frivolous and vexatiousâ€, “does not meet the prima facie standard envisaged under Article 146 (6) of the Constitution and thus, ought to be dismissed in limineâ€.
Thus, President Akufo-Addo said in the statement that the petition was not anchored on any allegation made directly or emanating from the petitioner itself.
“The petitioner relies on allegations made by a certain lawyer, Mr Kwasi Afrifa, in his response to a complaint of misconduct made against the Chief Justice based on what he alleges another person (his former client), told him,†he said.
The statement said the petitioner did not make any allegation of bribery or any form of misconduct against the Chief Justice, adding that petition was conjectural and speculative, providing nothing of substance to assist in proceedings for the removal of the Chief Justice.
“It is correct to say that the petitioner does not possess any personal knowledge of any of the matter that the petitioner advances as the foundation of the petition,†it said
“The petitioner fails to meet the threshold of proffering sufficiently strong evidence in support of his allegation for the opposing side to be called to answer to it.
“In actual fact, the petitioner fails to provide any evidence at all, in support of the spurious allegations made against the Chief Justice. It does not attempt to substantiate any of the claims in any form.
“To entertain further proceedings on third hand and fourth hand hearsay, as the petition is replete with, will violate legally acceptable standards of fairness and weaken the efficacy of the top echelon of the Judiciary,†he said.
