The Deputy General Secretary of the NDC, Mustapha Gbande, says it is wrong to blame the NDC for the troubles that engulfed former Chief Justice Gertrude Torkonoo.
The Deputy Director of Operations at the Presidency insists the real damage was done by Minority Leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin. He says, “It wasn’t NDC.”
Speaking on PM Express, he dismissed claims that his party orchestrated the pressure that eventually removed the Chief Justice. He said the NDC was focused elsewhere.
“Ghana has a constitution, and that constitution is the instrument that controls all of us,” he said. He added that President Mahama and the party leadership were “more occupied with battling the difficulties that President Akufo-Addo have taken this country to.”
He said things had been hard. According to him, “the last few months, I have seen the President not resting.” He said ministers were also overwhelmed. He said his General Secretary admitted the “difficulty to even reach out to them.”
He said the National Chairman also shared this view. He insisted, “We are not bothered about these renditions being carried out by Alexander Afenyo-Markin and his people. They can talk, but the right things will be done.”
Mr Gbande said he had always been frank about his discomfort with Justice Torkonoo’s appointment. “I have always, and I have said that vehemently, my fear of having Justice Torkonoo being Chief Justice.”
When asked why, he said, “There were issues I was raising, and those issues I still stand by.” He said a petition went through a committee. He said the committee found clear reasons against her appointment. He stressed that “it is not an issue of President John Mahama or the NDC.”
He said he believes in strong institutions and cited examples. “I have come across women who have been heads of the judiciary, and they’ve discharged themselves creditably well. Justice Sophia Akuffo is one of them.”
He said if she had another chance to be Chief Justice, “I will be the first person to advocate for her.” He said she “discharged herself competently, so well that Ghanaians didn’t think that, because her family is one person or the other, she’s compromised.”
He then added, “I cannot say same of Justice Torkonoo, and I cannot say that she discharged herself creditably well. I will say that and take responsibility for it.”
He said Justice Torkonoo’s real undoing came from Afenyo-Markin. “Her wounds were more deeply scarred by the posture of Alexander Afenyo-Markin. He is the one who destroyed her. If she has anybody to accuse, it should be him and not anybody else.”
When pressed further, he added, “he helped in politicising her.” He said bystanders saw everything as pure politics. “What they see is politicisation and who cost it, it was Afenyo-Markin.”
Evans Mensah put it to him that Afenyo-Markin believed this was a partisan onslaught that threatened judicial independence and that the Minority forced the issue. Mr Gbande dismissed that.
He asked, “Who? Afenyo-Markin?” and said, “he had a proprietary interest. He was benefiting from it.” When Evans asked, “In what way?”, he replied, “he was a subcontractor. His companies were doing business with the judiciary.”
When the host said he had no evidence, Mr Gbande responded, “He has never come to deny it.” When Evans pointed out that silence does not prove anything, he insisted, “I can say to you for a fact that if there was anybody who exposed Justice Torkonoo to all this crisis, it is Afenyo-Markin, not the NPP per se, it is Afenyo-Markin.”
He added that “he opened the woman up for us all to come to believe that she’s a window President Akufo-Addo had created to grant escape routes for persons perceived to have stolen money from this country.”
He rejected claims that the NDC engineered the removal. “I didn’t see NDC’s hand in that,” he said. But he admitted his own involvement. “I was involved. I was involved in the advocacy. I spoke against it any day, anytime I get the opportunity.”
He said even with President Mahama, “the day he’s wrong, I will speak against him. Take it from me.” He said job security would not stop him. “Job security should not override my principles.”
He said Justice Torkonoo could have helped herself by distancing her work from politics. “I believe that Justice Torkonoo would have done herself some good if she had weaned herself off the politicisation and the way she went about her things.”
He said no public officer is perfect. But he asked what happens “when it becomes obvious that Ghanaians are short-changed.” He said the country must be protected.
“I’m not ready to take my children abroad. They will all be here and live here.” He said Ghana is a “prosperous country,” and urged the nation to “aspire to work to see this country become a better place.”
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