Minority Leader, Alexander Afenyo- Markin presenting the petition to Stan Dogbe at the Jubilee House
Scores of Ghanaians yesterday joined the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) and other political parties to protest against the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) government over the removal of Justice Gertrude Torkornoo as the Chief Justice.
The parties include the Liberal Party of Ghana (LPG), National Democratic Party (NDP), and People’s National Party (PNP), among others.
The protest, dubbed ‘Save the Judiciary’, started at about 8:30am at the Supreme Court where the leadership of the NPP led by Minority Leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin presented the first petition to the Acting Judicial Secretary, Dr. Cyracus Badinye Bapuuro at the Supreme Court.
The protesters, clad in red attire, armbands and gear, proceeded to Parliament where the Clerk of Parliament, Ebenezer Ahumah Djietror also received the petition on behalf of the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin.
The demonstrators, who also held various placards with inscriptions such as “President, wash your hands off the judiciary”, “The judiciary should be independent” among others, marched through the principal streets of Accra and finally presented the petition to the President at the Jubilee House.
Deputy Chief of Staff in charge of Operations, Stanislav Xoese Dogbe, who received the petition on behalf of President John Mahama, said, “I can assure you, and the people of Ghana, that we appreciate the fact that just as the government ensured you went about your demonstration peacefully, there was another one last weekend that also took place without any attempt to prevent people from expressing themselves.”
He said that was an indication of the government’s democratic posture, which is a departure from the previous administration, adding that President Mahama will allow peaceful expression and not prevent the expression of civic rights.
The Minority Leader, who later addressed the large crowd, described President Mahama’s actions as a “dangerous, coordinated attack on Ghana’s constitutional democracy”, and would march to resist the rise of a new oppressor, who wears the clothes of democracy, but governs with the spirit of dictatorship.
“We march because of the constitutional demands, article after article, of our supreme law. It enjoins us to defend the Republic, not with arms, but with truth, courage, and lawful resistance. We must, as citizens, be vigilant,” he stated.
He further noted that the 1992 Constitution, which is the sacred covenant that binds Ghanaians as a free and sovereign people, is being infiltrated, manipulated, and desecrated.
The Minority Leader disclosed that thugs who did not only brutalise parliamentary candidates, agents and supporters, also inflicted physical harm and burned down the Electoral Commission offices among others have still not been held accountable.
“Now under NDC, impunity reigns, and it is at the very top. Since assuming office, His Excellency the President has weaponised the security services, deploying them in retrogressive PNDC-style raids on the homes of political opponents,” he stated.
He described President Mahama’s actions as a “dangerous betrayal of the Republic where the President no longer sees himself as a President but an autocrat and a ruler for life.”
The Minority Leader said President Mahama has a sinister agenda to amend the constitution, aimed at prolonging his grips to capture the judiciary.
That, he explained, is the relentless siege on the judiciary, which he described as a large bulwark between autocracy and freedom which has now become his target.
“Today, the Chief Justice, Gertrude Araba Esaaba Torkornoo, a distinguished servant of this Republic, is under siege. The head of the judiciary is being dragged through a sham process of removal from office, engineered by a desperate president and a rubber stamp by a failed Council of State. Their goal is not justice,’’ he added.
He said the NDC operatives are out there calling for the EC chair, while the Attorney General, a guardian of justice, has been reduced to a partisan streak sweeping away prosecutions against NDC officials and focusing on the NPP, as well as entangled in a web of allegations and counter allegations.
“This is not leadership. It is a conspiracy of impunity, a cabal determined to protect its own and crush all who would dare to hold them accountable. Let us be clear; this is not politics as usual. We must be relentless. We must use every constitutional tool at our disposal to oppose dissent into despotism. Every citizen who cherishes freedom must rise loud, bold, and fearless.
“We must organise, mobilise, and strategise until this diabolical agenda is brought to its knees. We say to the judiciary, our first duty is a constitution, not this president, not any president. You owe allegiance to the Republic and its people,” he added.
By Ebenezer K. Amponsah