John Mahama

Director of Legal Affairs of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Gary Nimako, has lashed out at former President John Dramani Mahama, cautioning him to desist from running down the judiciary.

The flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) while addressing the 3rd Annual Lawyers Conference of the opposition party called on his members to “balance out” the bench because President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has deliberately appointed pro-NPP judges to the bench in order to do his bidding.

Mr. Nimako stated that, such comments have the potential to jeopardise the confidence of Ghanaians in the country’s legal system.

He further rubbished claims that judges are doing the bidding of President Akufo-Addo.

“Who is saying that the judges are party people? What is the check to say those there are party people? There is no appointee serving the interest of the President. It was the same courts that made former president Mahama the president, isn’t it? The same Supreme Court, in 2013, at that time was the court a political court?” he quizzed.

“Let’s be careful not to destroy our institutions of state. The judiciary is a very sensitive institution in the history of our country. I’m not comfortable at all with the way former president Mahama is running the judiciary down.Even if what you are saying is true, we should pack the courts with NDC members when you get power. How do you say that?” he said on Accra-based Citi TV.

He questioned if the NDC will create new courts when they come to power since they doubt the credibility of the current judiciary.

Gary Nimako emphasised that cases not backed by evidence are likely to be thrown out of court.

“Before you go to court, your evidence must be solid. You go to court without evidence, your case is thrown away and you come and say it’s politics. I don’t think the court is politicized now. What I think strongly is that if you are going to the court, go with a solid case. If you go with a solid case, you will hear good news from the judges. But if it’s a bad case, you will lose,” he pointed out.

ALSO READ: