A former Attorney General and Minister for Justice, Betty Mould Iddrisu has taken yet another swipe at the Judiciary over what she describes as a failure to reform to address widespread negative public perception but rather adopting threats to silence critics. Mrs Mould Iddrisu, who is Ghana’s first female Attorney General, AG describes attacks on the former President, John Dramani Mahama as unfortunate, undemocratic, and a slap in the face of Ghanaians demanding fairness from an institution bestowed with powers to protect dictates of the 1992 Constitution.
She condemned recent attacks on the former President during the recent Bar conference and said as a former AG, she can only forgive Godfred Dame for abusing the platform. “Very unfortunate for a young Attorney General, Godfred Dame to come out with such statements about our former President. He was disrespectful and very upsetting to me, having held that position before. I forgive him because I am a Christian and it’s an act of charity.”…she told Eric Ahianyo on IDEAS Exchange, a current Affairs program on TV XYZ.
Mrs Mould Iddrisu who could not hide her emotions emphasized…… “Article 125 of the Constitution says quite clearly that the administration of Justice is vested in the people of the Republic of Ghana and it is the judiciary who is to administer that. If you did listen to the people how on earth can you administer justice for us? They need to listen to us. This should be a wake-up call”
She added ……“I chaired that conference of NDC lawyers, which John Mahama addressed. And all of us enthusiastically support his remarks about the perception of Ghanaians’ waning confidence in the judiciary.”
Explaining her position, Mrs Mould Iddrisu said being a leader of the Bar as Attorney General, does not give anyone the right to use a GBA meeting to create such chaos. She disclosed that she has not paid her dues as a lawyer for the past 10yrs because of the partisan actions by such persons who lead the Ghana Bar Association.
“Our lawyers were extremely upset”… “I have never had much faith in the Ghana Bar Association because it lost its capacity to withstand external influences. We saw them at critical times during the previous regime because its obvious they are favouring one political party or the other. ..I will pay my dues when I feel the GBA will be fair, a true arbiter of the interest of all lawyers in Ghana”… she emphasized.
She said the development must be a wake-up call to the Judiciary. She argued that several public surveys and observations by renowned lawyers and Civil Society organizations have drawn similar conclusions in the recent past. “John Mahama was just asking them to look within, assess what various persons are saying, step out and speak to ordinary Ghanaians themselves and find out what their perception of the Judiciary is.
It is sad to see and hear the barrage of unjustifiable attacks levelled against the former President. Hundreds of lawyers present at the conference supported the President not because they are NDC but because 99% of them practice at the bar. They go to the Courts daily and they know what is happening in the courts, yet many may be afraid to talk because they will be victimized”…she bluntly said in the interview.
Source:xyzonline
