News:
May 23, 2011
The decision by Ghanaian Judges not to hear four lawyers who have made damaging allegations of corruption against the judiciary has received strong support from the Second Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Professor Mike Ocquaye.
The Member of Parliament for Dome Kwabenya’s defense of the bench came at a time critics have attacked the Judges’ stance, with some calling it “Judicial Dictatorship.”
Speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show, Professor Mike Ocquaye said the four blacklisted lawyers who made the damaging allegations must be made to substantiate their claims that there is corruption in the Judiciary.
“What the judges are saying to my mind is that ‘let us put a pause to everything, we have been accused of being corrupt so let us go to the appropriate quarters which is the General Legal Council, let us go there so that whatever evidence you have against us, come and present it so that the corrupt judges will be sacked or tried and jailed, then the non-corrupt judges would hear your case for you’. Is there anything wrong with that? He who alleges must prove”.
Hon. Samuel Atta Akyea, MP for Abuakwa South Constituency has also described the allegations of the four lawyers as most irresponsible.
Meanwhile, a senior member of the pressure group Lawyers in Search for Democracy (LINSOD) has told Citi News that he has strong evidence of corruption in the nation’s judiciary.
Chris Ackummey revealed that he knows a Judge who took a Gh¢500 bribe and subsequently influenced the outcome of a case he was adjudicating.
“Those you love are the ones you criticize so the criticisms must not be seen as if it is targeted at judges to embarrass them or disgrace them. I have one instance and if they want evidence I will give it to them and provide several others who will corroborate it and I will mention the name of the judge”.
“I Chris Ackummey, I am saying that I know of a judge who took GHC500. Just this morning a professor at Korle-Bu called me and told me of his experience where a judge handling a case demanded money from him before deciding on the case”.
By: Citifmonline.com