Obiri Boahen reacts to Mahama’s NPP-inclined judiciary statement

A former deputy general secretary of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) has refuted former president John Mahama’s allegations that the Akufo-Addo administration has stacked the courts with friends.

The charges made by the former President, according to Nana Obiri Boahen, are untrue.

“It is not true that the judiciary has been packed with NPP cronies. I won’t mention names, but there is one person we all know is a staunch NDC supporter at the Appeals Court. It is dangerous for the former President to be talking about balance” he said.

Speaking at the 3rd Annual Lawyers Conference over the weekend, the 2024 National Democratic Congress (NDC) flagbearer charged President Akufo-Addo and his administration with overstuffing the judiciary with judges who supported the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP).

The President is attempting to escape being held accountable after he leaves office, according to the NDC flagbearer, who also noted that there are presently between 80 and 100 judges and counting.

Therefore, in order to “balance out” the court, Mr. Mahama urged NDC members to pursue jobs as judges.

Nana Obiri Boahen reacted to Mr. Mahama’s remarks on Monday’s Dwaso Nsem morning show by criticizing him for making such a poor choice of words.

He asserts that Mr. Mahama must avoid giving the idea that solely NPP supporters are being appointed to the bench because equally capable NDC members are also present.

If such NDC members are summoned to the bench, he will see no cause to object to their nomination.

“There are a lot of qualified NDC lawyers and good materials for the Supreme Court and once you are in the legal profession, you will not complain about certain calls to the bench. People like Edudzi Tamakloe, George Loh and others are doing a fantastic job so some of them irrespective of their political colours are hardworking and deserving of such appointments,” he stated.

Despite this, Nana Obiri Boahen, a lawyer, stated that the NPP has to take Mr. Mahama’s statement as a wake-up call.

“Mahama is just telling them that so far as you are an NDC lawyer, there will be a place on the bench for you. So we also need to form an association of NPP lawyers, even though the party, per our constitution, has a legal team. After November 4, I will seek an audience with Dr Bawumia and propose it to him going forward into the 2024 election,” he added.