Lawyer Maurice Ampaw has expressed worry over the attitude of former President John Mahama towards the Judiciary.
The experienced lawyer stated on Wontumi TV’s Mmra Ne Abrabo mu Nsem show that he had hoped being in opposition for 6 years, would have humbled former President Mahama and guarded his public utterances.
He described Mr. Mahama as a man who has benefitted heavily from the ruling of the Supreme Court and for that reason, must learn to appreciate the institution at all times.
His comments stems from former President John Dramani Mahama’s statement that it will take a new Chief Justice to lead the process to repair what he said was the “badly dented image” of Ghana’s judiciary for people to win the trust in the system.
For him, the deteriorated image of the judiciary easily sparks laughter from the citizenry when one decides to go to the court for justice.
Former President Mahama made the statement at the opening of the 2nd Annual Lawyers Conference of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) on Sunday August 28, 2022.
“If people are not poking fun about politics and inducement being used to sway the hand of justice in the lower courts then it is poking fun and making statements about the 7:0 of the the unanimous FC. Verdicts which mostly involve cases of a political nature in our Supreme court, this is an unfortunate but serious development.”
But lawyer Ampaw quipped that in 2012, the court ruled in Mr. Mahama’s favor to extend his stay as President of Ghana when the New Patriotic Party had challenged his declaration.
He expressed shock at the sudden you turn and condemnation on the same institution simply because it didn’t rule in Mr. Mahama’s favor during the 2020 election petition.
“I thought this man(John Mahama) would have changed after being in opposition for 6 years…Because your case didn’t find favor at court you are lambasting it. An attack on the judiciary is an attack on the state”, he said.
