The suspended Chief Justice of Ghana has filed a petition with the Supreme Court to bar two of its justices, Gabriel Scott Pwamang and Samuel Kwame Adibu-Asiedu, from taking part in the proceedings that could lead to her possible removal from office.
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The writ, filed on her behalf by ex-Attorney-General, Godfred Yeboah Dame, comes in the wake of allegations that the two justices had a private meeting in a restaurant with a lawyer connected to the matter currently before a committee of inquiry.
The application names Justices Gabriel Scott Pwamang and Samuel Kwame Adibu-Asiedu, former Auditor-General Daniel Yao Domelevo, Major Flora Bazwaanura Dalugo, and Professor James Sefah Dzisah as defendants/respondents.
According to the motion, Justice Torkornoo is requesting the Supreme Court to restrain the committee, composed of the second to sixth defendants, from continuing any proceedings or actions relating to the inquiry into the three petitions seeking her removal.
The writ was filed in less than 24hours after a similar suit seeking to halt the activities of the Committee brought before the Supreme Court by Dr James Kwabena Bomfeh, CEO of CenCES was dismissed
Musa Dankwah’s Opinion Polls found their way into the petition
The suspended Chief Justice in the writ told the Supreme Court that an opinion poll conducted before her suspension alleged how unpopular she was and that she had to be removed.
In a political twist to the writ, Justice Gertrude Torkonoo, however, linked the pollster to the ruling government to back her argument of an unjust move to remove her from office.
That before my suspension, an opinion poll had purportedly been organised by a pollster known to be close to the Government in which he alleged that I was so unpopular that I had to be removed as the Chief Justice – CJ told the Supreme Court
Musa Dankwah’s response:
In a sharp response, the Executive Director of Global InfoAnalytics shot down any wrongdoing, saying, “Public opinion will remain public opinion. It should not be the basis for removing anyone protected by the Constitution from office. The law is the law, and opinion only matters when it is voters’ decision, but they will have their say, but the law will have its way.”
According to Mr. Dankwah, they conducted two separate post-event polls – after the removal process started and after the news of her CJ suspension, hence those polls could not have influenced her removal petition or her suspension.
Global InfoAnalytics conducted two polls. The first was after the process to initiate her removal process commenced and we asked voters if they supported the process to remove the Chief Justice. it was post-event and therefore could not have influenced the decision to proceed.
Read Mr. Dankwah’s full post:
My attention has been drawn to the fact that our work on the opinion of Ghanaians on whether they support the suspension of the CJ has made it to a petition filed by the CJ.
Public opinion will remain public opinion. It should not be the basis for removing anyone protected by the Constitution from office. The law is the law, and opinion only matters when it is the voters’ decision, but they will have their say, but the law will have its way.
Global InfoAnalytics conducted two polls. The first was after the process to initiate her removal process commenced, and we asked voters if they supported the process to remove the Chief Justice. It was post-event and therefore could not have influenced the decision to proceed.
The second poll was conducted after the suspension, asking voters if they supported the suspension, again, after the event. How could these polls of public opinion find their way into a petition?
So, people don’t know the role of pollsters?
By: Efo Korsi Senyo / Awake News
