Dormaa East MP Replies Mahama Over Appointments To The Bench

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) Member of Parliament for Dormaa East Constituency Paul Apreku Twum Barimah has criticised former President John Dramani Mahama over his recent comments to the effect that in the next National Democratic Congress (NDC) government with him as president of the country, lawyers affiliated to the party will packed to the bench to equalise president Akufo-Addo’s packing of NPP affiliates to the judiciary.

According to the young lawmaker, Mr Mahama’s assertions about the current composition of the judiciary amounts to unfairly running down the sacred institution.

“We build institutions and then run them down and then we expect to get the best out of them, forgetting that we are the cause of that,” he said in an interview on Wednesday, September 6, 2023.

An ostensibly worried ex president Mahama whiles addressing the 3rd Annual Lawyers Conference of the NDC on Saturday, September 2, 2023 at Akosombo questioned recent appointments made by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo .

“You can see what the current president has done,” …“He has appointed the biggest number of judges onto the bench, it is more than 80 towards 100 and counting.

“He has packed the court and we know they have packed the court because they want to avoid accountability after they have left office” Mr Mahama complained.

But the Dormaa East MP said it doesn’t matter which crop of lawyers are appointed to the bench but the institutions must be built in such a way that all appointees are refined once they join the system.

“It doesn’t matter whether NPP, NDC person, CPP person, GCPP person, whoever I think is appointed into a certain institution, we should be able to make our institutions in such a way that, the system within the institution will purge you of any political thinking.”

For him, everyone has the right, nonetheless, to criticise an institution when it falters but at the same time, give it praise when it does well.

“So, immediately you get into the system, automatically you will be refined. That is how we are supposed to project our institutions.

“So where we think the institution has done something wrong, let’s criticise them. Where we think they deserve applause let’s give them that applause.”

He said if Mr Mahama appoints a luminary like Tsatsu Tsikata, no one will stop him because of his pedigree.

“For me if His Excellency, the former president, says come I’m bringing you to the bar or even tell me if someone says he is bringing Tsatsu [Tsikata] to the Supreme Court alone, are we going to stop that?”