<<Print>>

Peacefmonline.com can confirm that the Chief Justice, Mrs Georgina Theodora Wood, has set up an eight-member committee to investigate claims by the sacked Deputy Communication Minister, Ms Victoria Hamah, that Nana Oye Lithur met some judges ahead of the landmark Election Petition verdict. The eight member committee is Chaired by Dr. Justice F.K Darte-Baah (rtd), a Justice of the Supreme Court. Its members include Nana Dr S.K.B Asante; the Attorney-General, Madam Marietta Brew Appiah-Oppong; a former President of the Ghana Bar Association (GBA), Frank W.K. Beecham; current President of the Ghana Bar Association (GBA), Nene A.O Amegatcher; Mrs Joyce N.N Ocloo; Mrs Ellen Odartey Laryea and the Judicial Secretary, Alex Opoku-Acheampong as the Secretary to the Committee. A copy of the letter sighted by Peacefmonline indicates the committee is to submit its report to the Judicial Council, fourteen (14) days after its sitting. The beleaguered former deputy minister's claim came to light in a leaked recording, in which she (Ms Hamah) was heard alluding to the possibility that Nana Oye influenced some of the judges on the 2012 Election Petition panel to rule in favour of President John Mahama. Nana Oye, who is the Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection, has since denied the claim. The disclosure, however, prompted the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to call for an investigation into the claim via a petition to the Chief Justice. The setting up of this committee is thought to be in response to the NPP petition.