Ernest Obri Lartey, a driver, has petitioned President Nana Akufo-Addo to sack Chief Justice Georgina Theodora Wood over her “incompetence and misbehaviour” in handling the judicial corruption scandal unearthed by investigative journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas.
Mr Lartey argues that the Chief Justice violated Article 146 (8) of the 1992 constitution by publishing in the media, contents of petitions sent to the Office of the President asking for the dismissal of the High Court judges indicted among the 34 judges who were caught on tape – in the two-year investigative piece – allegedly demanding bribe to warp justice.
Mr Lartey also accused the Chief Justice of discussing the contents of the said petition with the petitioner, Anas Aremeyaw Anas, before forwarding same to then-President John Mahama.
According to him, the Chief Justice, having removed some judges from office in 2005/2006 after they were found to have communicated ex parte with one side in a pending litigation, contrary to the conduct of the judges and magistrates, she ought to have known better.
“Since the Chief Justice finds ex parte communication by judges and magistrate to be so grave that they have to be removed from office, she the Chief Justice should equally be removed from office for engaging in ex parte communication with the petitioner and eventually heard the same petition and made prima facie determinations. What is good for the goose is also good for the gander.
“The Chief Justice’s incompetence is obvious when she failed to comply with the decision of the Supreme Court that any petition seeking the removal of the superior court under Article 146 (8) of the constitution. The Chief Justice sat in the Agyei Twum Case when the Supreme Court made the declaration yet the Chief Justice in this instance, violated the same Article 146 (8) of the constitution,” Mr Lartey argued.
Mrs Wood, in October last year, announced she would be retiring from office in May this year ahead of her 70th birthday in June.
Per the statutes of Ghana, the Chief Justice like any other Justice of the Superior Courts, may voluntarily retire upon reaching the age of 60 or s/he can stay on until the compulsory retirement age of 70. Madam Georgina Wood, 69, was born on 8 June 1947. She was appointed and sworn in by former President John Agyekum Kufuor and assumed office on 15 June 2007. Prior to that position, she had turned down an appointment to the Supreme Court by former President Kufuor in 2002 November. She is the first female Chief Justice in Ghana’s history.
Source: Ghana/AccraFM.com
