“…as I see she is not bringing anything dramatic she is going sing to the tune” says the National Chairman of the People’s National Convention (PNC).
Bernard Mornah was speaking to the vetting of Chief Justice-designate, Justice Sophia Akuffo.
Justice Akuffo was on Friday subjected to almost six hours of gruelling vetting in parliament.
One of the questions asked by the minority National Democratic Congress (NDC) on the Appointments Committee was in her judgement on the Montie 3, who were jailed for contempt of court and were granted pardon by former President John Dramani Mahama.
If you may recall Justice Akuffo chaired the five-member panel of Supreme Court judges who heard the case. In the ruling, the trio were given a four-month imprisonment and a fine of GH¢10,000 each, after they had pleaded guilty to the contempt charge.
Answering the question from the minority during the vetting, Justice Akuffo said each contempt case is determined on its own merits and that the sentences handed to the Montie trio were in line with the degree of offence.
According to her, since the offence by the trio was a serious attack on the court, the sentence was to help protect the sanctity and integrity of the court.
However, speaking as a panellist on Radio Gold’s Alhaji and Alhaji, Saturday, Mr Mornah felt the in-coming Chief Justice was being dodgy.
“She was being dodgy; she avoided those she thought will lead her into trouble and delved deep into areas where she thought that there was nothing to fear about. So if she could not talk about the Montie 3, why was she talking about the NMC case? If you are not comfortable talking about Montie 3 and the contempt issues; if you are not comfortable talking about the instances where Raymond Atuguba and co were banned from coming to court why would you be comfortable talking about a ruling that you participated in which involved the NMC? The chairman of the appointment committee possibly denied us the opportunity by not telling her that we are not here to seek your comfort; we are here for you to give us answers and it’s not about your being comfortable with the questions we ask or not. But as always our Appointment Committee and the kind of questions and the answers tend to be like it’s a charade and nothing will happen” he stated.
Nonetheless, he wished ‘her well’.
Source: GhanaWeb
