The Dormaahene, Osagyefo Oseadeeyo Agyemang Badu II should be sacked as a justice of the High Court for making public utterances on a matter pending before the courts.
A member of the General Legal Counsel, Sam Okudzeto who made the call said the Judicial Council should take the action of the Dormaahene, known in private as Justice Daniel Mensah very seriously.
Mr. Okudzeto spoke in a radio interview monitored by Graphic Online on Accra-based Joy FM on Monday evening [July 3, 2023].
He was reacting to a statement by the Dormaahene, Osagyefo Oseadeeyo Agyemang Badu II when attended the Bono, Bono East, Ahafo, and Western North regional version of the Professor John Evans Atta Mills Commemorative Lecture in Sunyani on Saturday [July 1, 2023].
Mr Samuel Okudzeto is a member of the General Legal Counsel Disciplinary Committee and when he was asked if this was something that triggers their mandate he said: “No” and explained the General Legal Counsel deals with lawyers and that this is a matter for the Judicial Council.
He said even if the Judicial Council does not take it up, it is the responsibility of any citizen to make an application to them or petition them [Judicial Council].
“It is bad, it is just not decent for a judge to make such an utterance,” he said.
“To me, it is repugnant, it is senseless for a sitting High Court judge to stand on a public platform [and] make utterances of that nature,” Mr. Okudzeto said.
“This is my view. If I were sitting in that Disciplinary Committee on the Judicial Council, I would have asked him to resign or asked him to be sacked as a judge, that is what I would’ve done,” he added.
Addressing the audience, the Dormaahene made an appeal to the Attorney-General to drop the criminal charges against James Gyakye Quayson, the Member of Parliament-elect for Assin North. [Watch the video attached below]
James Gyakye Quayson is facing trial for perjury at the High Court in Accra.
He is facing charges of forgery and perjury in relation to certain alleged offenses in the run-up to the 2020 Assin North parliamentary election.
He has pleaded not guilty to five counts of forgery of passport or travel certificate, knowingly making a false statutory declaration, perjury, and false declaration for office.
It is the case of the prosecution that Mr. Quayson allegedly made a false statement to the Passport Office that he did not hold a passport to another country when he applied for a Ghanaian Passport.
In addition, the prosecution has accused Mr. Quayson of making a false declaration to the Electoral Commission (EC) to the effect that he (Quayson) did not owe any allegiance to a foreign country when he filed to contest as a candidate for the Assin North seat in 2020.
“As a matter of urgency, I [Dormaahene] am appealing to the President of the Republic [Akufo-Addo], if he has any role to play, that trial should be aborted, and the Attorney-General should as a matter of urgency file a Nolle Prosequi to end that particular decision” and abort the criminal case against Mr. Quayson”, the Dormaahene said.
Insisting that it was needless for the A-G to continue the case after the chiefs and people of the Assin North constituency re-elected Quayson, Oseadeeyo Agyemang Badu, who is also the President of the Bono Regional House of Chiefs said the law has a provision or permitted the A-G to discontinue any case that citizens were not interested.
He said continuing with the criminal trial was an insult to Ghanaians and the people of Assin North.
He added that he does not see any benefits coming to the country, should the A-G decide to continue to prosecute James Gyakye Quayson, and that prosecuting him will prevent him from doing his job as a legislator.
“Mr. President [Akufo-Addo], you know I love you, this matter cannot go on”, he added.
The Dormaahene said the 17,245 votes representing 57.56 percent of the valid votes cast for Mr. Quayson was a signal that the constituents had trusted and believed in him to be their MP.
Disagreement with Supreme Court ruling
He said he disagrees with the Supreme Court’s ruling that annulled the 2020 Assin North parliamentary election and made the seat vacant.
The Dormaahene, who is also a High Court Judge – James Mensah – said if he was on the Supreme Court bench, he would have voted against annulling the election and that he would have voted on the “left” side and would not have gone to the “right”.
He said the reason, he would’ve gone to the left side is the same issues under consideration in the criminal trial and so he would not want to explain or speak on it.
