The Chair of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Council of Elders in South Africa, Mr. Benjamin Kofi Quashie, has weighed in on the Chief Justice (CJ) petitions and the subsequent committee set up to investigate her matter, blaming it on the recklessness of Nana Akufo-Addo's government.
In an interview on Kessben TV, Accra on Thursday, April 24, 2025, Mr. Quashie asserted the CJ ought not to have waited for her matter to get to this level, emphasising that he blames the CJ's problems "on the recklessness of Nana Akufo-Addo when he was president", he stated.
Further, on the posturing of NPP lawyers since the matter broke, he expressed amazement, describing their posturing as hypocritical. "They should rather go to Nana Akufo-Addo's house in Nima and tell him his recklessness has brought this", he stressed, cautioning them to desist from running unnecessary comments on the CJ matter.
In explaining the reckless behaviour of Nana Akufo-Addo, he recounted that on May 9, 2018, President Akufo-Addo suspended 4 high court judges. Again, he sacked Madame Charlotte Osei as EC boss as well as the former Auditor General, Domelevo under dubious circumstances. "Where were the NPP lawyers now parading themselves as lawyers of conscience, where were they and were their consciences sleeping at the period?", he quizzed.
The NDC SA Council of Elders Chair reminded the NPP lawyers that when the astute lawyer president was messing up in government, they all sat aloof and cannot complain today. The NDC, according to Quashie, reminded the NPP and Nana Akufo-Addo of setting a bad precedent but all their pleas fell on deaf ears until the effects of their actions have now boomeranged on them.
Curiously, he indicated that the rulings of the Supreme Court (SC) were too predictable, arguing, that is the result of President Akufo-Addo packing the SC bench with his cronies. When it was pointed out to him that, President Akufo-Addo did no wrong, he retorted, if the former president did no wrong in those appointments, then Mahama cannot be blamed either for his actions. "If Akufo-Addo did no wrong in appointing that number to the bench, then, there is nothing wrong if President Mahama decides to sack them", he stressed.
Quashie emphatically averred that he believes the whole SC bench should be cleared, suggesting the SC has become an albatross on the neck of Ghanaians. "The judiciary ought to be the place Ghanaians should run to when in trouble but, unfortunately Ghanaians were unable to run to them", he affirmed.
Concluding his remarks on Kessben TV, Quashie highlighted President Mahama's actions in relation to the petition were in tandem with the laws of Ghana. The actions and inactions of the CJ prior to the elections, including ruling on a matter describing the Speaker's actions as creating a constitutional crisis, compromised her position.
