The Member of Parliament for Dormaa East, Paul Twum Barima, has criticized former President John Dramani Mahama for demanding accountability from the judiciary while publicly challenging the political allegiance of the bench.
Speaking at a conference of NDC-affiliated lawyers, Mahama accused President Akuffo Addo of packing the judiciary with as many as 80 judges with direct affiliation to the president’s New Patriotic Party.
In response, Twum Barima questioned why politicians would want to undermine critical institutions in the country and yet demand credibility and accountability from those same institutions.
”We don’t need to bastardize our institutions and come back thinking that they don’t have the credibility that we need. How will these institutions work if today NDC says this decision is not good and the next day the NPP is saying same?” Paul Twum Barima queried.
He called for persons with political influence to help build credible democratic structures rather than denigrate them in the public eye.
Twum Barima further suggested that some institutions that form the fulcrum of democracy should be insulated from open accusations that discount their neutrality.
“Certain aspects of this country need to be protected. The sanctity of the judiciary must be protected; the security services must be protected; the electoral commission must be protected. We should not take our political activities to those areas,” he cautioned.
Twum Barima insisted that the judiciary had its own systems and professional codes of conduct capable of holding anyone in line, regardless of the political regime under which such persons were appointed as judges.
BY: inewslens.com/ivan Heathcote – Fumador
