Dennis Miracles Aboagye, an aspiring National Communications Officer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), has raised concerns over what he describes as selective justice in the handling of cases within Ghana’s judicial system.
Speaking on Joy News’ PM Express on Tuesday, Mr Aboagye questioned why some criminal cases are allowed to remain in court for years while others appear to receive faster attention.
His comments come amid ongoing public debate over the relationship between the judiciary and the executive, following concerns raised by some political actors about the pace and handling of high-profile cases.
Mr Aboagye referenced the cases involving former Chief Executive Officer of the Microfinance and Small Loans Centre (MASLOC), Sedinam Tamakloe, and the incarceration of Ashanti Regional NPP Chairman Bernard Antwi Boasiako, popularly known as Chairman Wontumi, as part of his concerns about what he called unequal treatment.
He said he had previously written to the Chief Justice expressing his concerns about what he described as the judiciary’s closeness to the executive.
“I wrote a letter to His Lordship, the Chief Justice. I don’t know if you saw that. I wrote a letter to His Lordship, the Chief Justice, about a month ago, where I itemised my worry about his relationship and his romance with the executive, and the fact that it’s becoming too glaring,” he said.
According to him, the response from the Judicial Secretary provided some clarification, but he maintained that the judiciary must remain independent from political influence.
“I am of the view that we need to keep our judiciary very far away from our politics, far, far, far away from our politics,” he said.
Explaining his concerns about selective justice, Mr Aboagye argued that the justice system should apply the same standards to all cases before the courts.
“For example, listen, a criminal is a criminal. There is no way to wait,” he said.
He questioned why some cases, including those that have been before the courts for years, continue without swift resolution, while others receive immediate attention.
“Now you have a lot of cases in the court, a lot of criminal cases, a lot of civil cases. Some of them predate even 2020, 2027, 2020. Every year you go on your legal vacation.
“This year, you are going on legal vacation. You say that even though all of you are being tried in criminal cases, I have selected a few of you, and as for you, you can’t go and rest. You must go through the criminal procedure. That is selective justice,” he said.
Mr Aboagye added that the concerns being raised by some citizens were linked to perceptions that the judiciary was becoming too close to the government.
He said, “the 10s and 1000s of people you will be seeing tomorrow on the street are simply saying that the judiciary seems to be romancing with the executive and is making the executive too comfortable.”
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