The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has accused the General Legal Counsel of allowing itself to be used by the current government to persecute persons who are critical of the Akufo-Addo administration.
According to the party, some of its lawyers who have criticized or commented on some rulings by judges are also being victimized, adding that the current administration is abusing power.
General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Johnson Asiedu Nketiah, said “it is good governance practice to criticize the product of state institutions in order to improve their work. In some cases, attempts to improve court rulings in Ghana have landed some of our lawyers into trouble with the General legal Council.”
- NDC’s misleading Commonwealth petition is an attempt to undermine Ghana’s sovereignty -Dame
- A list of NDC’s proposed reforms for elections in Ghana
“The General Legal Council is, unfortunately, is being misused to persecute and silent voices that are critical to the sitting government,” he added.
Judges to drag Sosu to General Legal Council over ‘political judges’ comment
The Association of Magistrates and Judges of Ghana recently served notice of its intention to lodge a formal complaint against a private legal practitioner, and NDC MP for Madina, Francis Xavier-Sosu, at the General Legal Council over some comments he made against the country’s judiciary.
Xavier-Sosu had in an earlier interview accused some judges of taking entrenched political positions in the discharge of their duties.
“If you make yourself a political judge, you will be treated politically and your tenure of office will run with the political party that you follow”.
According to the Association of Magistrates, the remark by the legislator, who doubles as a legal practitioner, is reckless and must be condemned.
NDC petitions Commonwealth Secretariat to probe human rights abuses under NPP Gov’t
Already, the National Democratic Congress (NDC), has petitioned the Commonwealth Secretariat to investigate and subsequently sanction the current administration over what the party calls bad governance and abuse of human rights.
At a press briefing on Monday, February 28, 2022, the General Secretary of the NDC, Johnson Asiedu Nketiah, said the petition is to draw the attention of the international body to instances of abuse of the judiciary, political persecutions, and abuse of human rights.
“Since assuming the reins of power in 2016, the message of physical violence against political opponents that Nana Addo preached and championed before the 2016 general elections has turned into structural, institutional and systematic forms of violence in the form of human rights violations, harassment, and political persecutions against members and supporters of the NDC,” he said.
