A RECENT disclosure by a member of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) legal team that he will be invading the General Legal Council meeting along with party supporters, has alarmed the Member of Parliament (MP) for Ahafo Ano North, Richard Akuoko Adiyia, who believes the various arms of government are under siege.
Mr. David Annan has threatened to carry NDC supporters along to the General legal Council after he had been invited together with three others by the highest decision-making body of the judiciary, to substantiate their allegation that the nation�s judges were corrupt.
The �loud-mouthed� lawyer, who has often criticized judges for their rulings on crucial political matters in which government had registered a streak of losses, indicated he was conveying the concerns of the governing party as they were not happy with the conduct of the men and women on the Bench.
Giving his reasons for his decision on Joy Fm, he said, �Don�t forget that, NDC as a party, we have made it clear that we are unhappy with the conduct of the judiciary. If you are dragging me to the General Legal Council for comments that I have made in my capacity as a member of the NDC; for and on behalf of the NDC, then what you are doing is that, you are dragging the whole party to the General Legal Council.�
But the Ahafo Ano North MP said the threats from the NDC lawyer epitomizes how some officials of the governing party, were undermining state institutions including the Judiciary and the Legislature, creating a governance crisis in the country.
According to him, there seems to a systematic attempt by government and ruling party officials to undermine the integrity and independence of various arms of government, a phenomenon, which the law-maker noted, was not an encouraging signal for the country�s nascent democracy.
Mr. Adiyia observed that NDC officials� deliberate pestering of judges including the infamous �there are many ways of killing a cat� comment by Dr. Kwabena Adjei, the party�s National Chairman, was a calculated attempt to intimidate the judiciary.
This, he noted, poses as a threat to rule of law and constitutional democracy. He pointed out that for the first time in the history of Ghana, a Speaker of Parliament; Justice Joyce Bamford-Addo had to walk out of the Chamber because the leadership of the majority NDC in Parliament had undermined her authority.
�The majority side was so uncooperative to the extent that the speaker had to walk out,� Mr. Adiyia lamented, stating there must always be cooperation between the minority, majority and the Speaker to entrench parliamentary democracy in the country.
The legislator said Ghana needed strong institutions to ensure socio-economic development adding, �Our democracy can only be entrenched if there are strong institutions of state to safeguard the civil rights and liberties of the people.�
For more than six months, the executive has concentrated on the confiscation of cars from past NPP government officials instead of delivering on its political campaign promise of getting rid of filth in the cities within the first 100 days. Government, Mr. Adiyia urged, must not engage in acts that undermine the country�s democracy or further polarize the nation.
�We must grow beyond the political cycle of vengeance and vindictiveness,� the MP admonished, reiterating that �as a nation, what we need is to reexamine ourselves so as not to perpetuate vengeance. �We tend to be so political that we lose sight of the welfare of the people which is supposed to be the preoccupation of every government,� Mr. Adiyia bemoaned.
He said there should be cross-fertilization of ideas between the majority and minority to move the nation forward.
<<Print>>