Deputy NDC General Secretary Mustapha Gbande has blasted the opposition NPP for what he calls a desperate attempt to stir public fear over a nonexistent third-term ambition by President John Mahama. Speaking on Joy News’ PM Express with Evans Mensah on Monday, May 5, he accused the NPP of resorting to “rumour-mongering and paranoia” in the face of legal and constitutional processes they clearly oppose but cannot stop.
“One, it is no longer just that Chief Justice Torkornoo was unfairly treated, but that they can see into the future that President Mahama would have to do a third term. And for that, they are scared,” the Director of Operations at the Presidency said. When asked directly whether President Mahama intends to pursue a third term, Gbande retorted, “Evans, why are we being invited into this distracting conversation? Is it in the place of the NPP to determine constitutional interpretation?”
He described the claims as a tactic to divert attention from the core issue at hand—the constitutionally sanctioned suspension of Chief Justice Gertrude Torkornoo—saying, “They are inviting President Mahama to do a great injustice to the Constitution of the Republic of Ghana.” Mustapha Gbande warned that such political games risk damaging institutions far beyond the NDC or Mahama.
“The manner in which they are politicising this whole matter would injure the Chief Justice herself,” he cautioned. “You are further exposing the Chief Justice politically and aligning her to a particular opinion or argument from a group of people, which is not fair to her.” He lashed out at the NPP for hypocrisy and selective outrage, questioning why the party was suddenly concerned about commentary from NDC members while ignoring the initial leaks and coverage by media figures aligned with them. “Why is it that Egyapa Mercer is accusing Sammy Gyamfi and Edudzi of commenting on the matter, when Paul Adom-Otchere was the one who actually serialised the Chief Justice’s response and put it out there?” he asked. “Why are they running away from that conversation?”
Mustapha Gbande insisted that the NPP had no moral ground to question the process since it was rooted in law, not public sentiment. “They have demonstrated, but at the end of the day, the inconsistencies with which they have finished their demonstration is my trouble,” he said.
He argued that the protest itself, which brought thousands of NPP supporters into Accra, proved the point that constitutional freedoms were intact and being exercised, even as the same demonstrators alleged their rights were being undermined. “In fact, to demonstrate early morning, bringing people from Winneba and Kumasi to come and protest in Accra, that is a right given to them by the same Constitution they claim is under threat,” Mustapha Gbande said. He called on the NPP to “hasten slowly” and stop projecting imaginary scenarios as facts.
“Tomorrow, if people come out to say things that even border on criminality as far as the Chief Justice is concerned, the NPP will be put to shame,” he warned. Mustapha Gbande concluded that if the NPP truly cared about the judiciary, they would allow due process to take its course instead of dragging judges into political crossfire and manufacturing fear over constitutional ghosts that don’t exist.
By: Abubakar Ibrahim
