The Director of Legal Affairs for the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Godwin Edudzi Tamakloe says the Ghana Bar Association (GBA) is only interested in attacking former President John Dramani Mahama.
He said the GBA has neglected its previous ways of enriching quality justice delivery in the country.
Speaking in an interview with Metro TV on Tuesday, September 5, Mr Edudzi Tamakloe insisted that, the Association must be concerned about the current precedent it is setting.
“What the bar is interested in is not this kind of conversation, the one that enriches quality justice delivery but the partisan posturing and attacking H.E John Mahama. In the past, the bar itself sometimes suggested names for promotion.”
“They will say this judge has done so and so and these are the quality of his judgements and so we as a bar suggest ABCD names for possible consideration but now what do we see?”
In his view, Mr. Mahama should be commended for raising the issue of the Judiciary for it to be addressed.
While speaking at the NDC Lawyers Conference in Akosombo over the weekend, the 2024 NDC presidential candidate accused President Akufo-Addo of appointing members of his party to the bench to influence decisions in their favour.
He thus charged NDC lawyers to prepare themselves to take up positions on the bench to balance out its composition.
“Our lawyers, some of you must be prepared to go onto the bench, I know that some of you have very lucrative legal practices you will not want to leave and go onto the bench. But you can see what the current President has done; he appointed the largest number of judges onto the bench. More than 80 towards hundred and counting.
“He’s packed the court and we know that they’ve packed the court because they want to avoid accountability after they have left office. So, all manner of people who have been known to be partisan, to have been executives of their party who are in the legal profession have been leapfrogged onto the Superior courts and other places,” Mr. Mahama said.
But his comments have received some condemnations with the Ghana Bar Association (GBA) in particular calling him out.
The Public Relations Officer of the GBA, Saviour Kudze, said Mr Mahama’s comment is inappropriate and not backed by evidence.
He said while there’s nothing wrong with Mr Mahama advising a group of lawyers who have identified themselves as NDC lawyers to take up appointments on the bench, running down the same judiciary – an important institution that he seeks to superintend as a President in future – is wrong.
But the NDC’s Director of Legal Affairs, Edudzi Tamakloe, who attended the NDC lawyers’ conference, disagrees with the critics of Mr Mahama.
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