MP for Manhyia South Nana Agyei Baffour Awuah has urged the five-member panel probing Chief Justice Gertrude Torkornoo to “be taking nationalistic and long term view of such development. We have a significant potential of impacting on our constitutional democracy.”
Speaking to ABC News GH on Thursday as the committee constituted by President John Mahama under Article 146(6) opened its sittings, the lawmaker said the stakes for the country’s democratic health are “far bigger than any single office holder.”
Warning that the proceedings currently resemble “more of secrete hearing,” Mr Awuah insisted that “there has to be rule of regulation that will regulate the proceedings”; without a clear framework, he cautioned, it could “seem like a kangaroo hearing.”
He reiterated that “it has a .. on impacting on our constitutional democracy,” adding, “anything shot of that can dereal our democracy” and “we have to be careful going forward.”
The MP asked well-meaning Ghanaians to “look beyond the CJ Torkonoo and the office of the Chief Justice,” stressing the need for structural change.
“Proposal to the committee to look at the need to reform the Article 146, just soo it doesn’t become a low hanging fruit for future government to plug, like we are seeing it now,” he said.
The panel, chaired by Supreme Court Justice Gabriel Scott Pwamang, is expected to meet three times a week and report its findings to the President after examining five separate petitions alleging misconduct against the suspended Chief Justice.
