John Mahama’s promise to politicize judiciary scary, unwarranted – Koku Anyidohu

The founder and chief executive officer of the Atta-Mills Institute, Samuel Koku Anyidoho has chastised former President John Dramani Mahama for urging pro-NDC lawyers to get ready to be appointed onto the bench if he returns to power.

He said claims by the former president that the Akufo-Addo government has packed the courts for which reason lawyers affiliated to the NDC should be ready to be appointed into the bench to bring a balance was untenable especially coming from the leader of a party, which was not birthed with comments of such nature .

Mahama’ s comments
In his address at the 3rd annual lawyers conference of the NDC on Saturday, September 2, 2023, in Akosombo, Mr Mahama stated that President Akufo-Addo has appointed the biggest number of judges onto the bench. “It is more than 80 towards 100 and counting. You can see what the current president has done. He has packed the court, and we know they have packed the court because they want to avoid accountability after they have left office.

“So, I encourage some of you to look at careers on the bench so that we can balance out what the current situation is. We must be prepared as NDC legal persons to also go onto the bench so that we can balance out the judiciary.”

Anyidoho disagrees
However, in a series of tweets on his “X” (formerly Twitter) handle, Mr Anyidoho said the claims of Mr Mahama are practically unacceptable, unwarranted and dangerous to the NDC as a party, the independence of the Judiciary and to the stability of the country.

“When I read stuff like this, my heart bleeds, especially because of what President Atta-Mills stood for vis his aversion to politicizing the law. He says he will balance the equation with political lawyers , so there will be nothing new to offer. Ghana does not need vengeance!

“This is highly unacceptable, and I believe it is extremely dangerous for our democracy if we allow such mindsets to run amok. I am NDC, and I do not support this mindset of brazenly politicizing our justice system because it will lead us into an endless pit of moral destruction, ” Mr Anyidoho wrote in his tweet.

Scary
Emphasizing how scary the former President’s assertion is, Mr Anyidoho stated: “It is very scary that the leader of JJ Rawlings’ NDC is not telling us how he intends to build a better Ghana but is gleefully shouting about “balancing equation” on the Bench. I am really scared!!! I fear for the future of this country if this is the way forward.

“I am respectfully pleading with the National Chairman of NDC & his elected (not appointed) National Executives to tell the nation if it is the Party’s position that the courts will be packed with pro-NDC judges, or it is only the Flagbearer who is desirous of such a dangerous act” Mr Anyidoho further stated.