Akufo-Addo’s boycott of the courts in 1995 was worse than Mahama’s criticisms – Essamuah

The Director of Communications of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Kakra Essamuah, has taken a swipe at President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo over his recent response to former President John Dramani Mahama’s comments about the judiciary.

According to the lawyer, it beats his mind that President Akufo-Addo, who was once at the forefront

Read full article.of a month-long boycott of the courts in this country in 1995, would feel the need to attack anyone criticizing the courts today.

During the recent Ghana Bar Association Annual Conference 2022 in Accra, President Nana Akufo-Addo ‘teased’ John Dramani Mahama and the NDC for going to court over the 2020 elections and sorely losing.

“Just as the government continues to implement policies to chart a path to advance the rule of law and thereby re-enforce the confidence in the people and shore up our nation as a country governed by the rule of law. There are some that have made it their political agenda to disarray systematically the image of the judiciary for selfish parochial partisan reasons.

“These are the plaintiffs who go to court, indeed the highest court of the land, provide the skimpiest of evidence to back their claims and yet insist that their claims be upheld despite the elementary violation of the ancient common law rules for the discharge of the burden of proof that such a resort will entail.

“It is no wonder that their claims were unanimously dismissed 7-0 by the apex court. The result of this case is in stark contrast to the result in 2013 when the unsuccessful plaintiffs managed to persuade four out of a nine-member court to fight for them and yet the earlier plaintiffs chose not to wage a political war against the court,” he added.

But in reacting to the development in a recent interview with Class FM, the NDC Communications Director, Kakra Essamuah, explained that it was hypocritical of the president to even attack anyone criticizing a judgment of the apex court.

He recalled a moment in 1995 when Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, as president of the Greater Accra Region branch of the Ghana Bar Association, joined a major boycott of court proceedings.

“I’m very very disturbed at the turn of events in Ghana at the moment. I’m a lawyer. Let me tell you a special story. In 1995, I was counsel – junior counsel to Mr. B. J. Da Rocha in a case in which the republic, led by the Deputy Attorney General, Martin Amidu, prosecuted a lawyer for contempt of court.

“The Supreme Court convicted a lawyer called Kwabena Mensah Bonsu – he’s still alive, if you like, go and ask him. He was convicted for contempt and jailed for one month at Nsawam Prisons. Do you know what happened in Ghana? Lawyers in Ghana boycotted all courts for one month because of that judgment.

“At that material time, the president of the Greater Accra regional branch of the Ghana Bar Association was Akufo-Addo, who is now president. Now, what is he talking about?” he said.

The NDC party executive further stated that if the president is attacking John Mahama over his recent comments on the judiciary, then what he and the other lawyers did decades ago is even worse.

“Why is he talking as if he is a child? Is that what we deserve as Ghanaians? What is wrong with ordinary citizens criticizing the judgments of the Supreme Court? When you boycott courts, you boycott going to work because of a judgment of the Supreme Court. Which one is more serious?” he said.

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