The Minority contends that the processes that far have been worrying sending wrong signal to political watchers and the diplomatic community; and added that the CJ’s removal would be a setback to Ghana’s democratic journey as the purpose of the petition is to malign the head of the Judiciary, orchestrate her removal thereby silencing the judiciary and to finally exert control of the Judiciary more especially as the National Democratic Congress (NDC) is an offshoot of the PNDC.

At a press conference addressed by the Legal Counsel to the Minority Caucus, John Darko, he asserts that the Judiciary is the last stop for upholding the country's democracy citing some high-level legal cases including various electoral petitions that were beautifully adjudicated on by the judiciary thereby maintaining the peace of the country.

“In our country’s history, from independence to military takeovers and our experiments with constitutional rules, one of the institutions that have stood firm, asserted its independence and remained nonpartisan is the judiciary.

We are aware that the judiciary’s desire to stay independent has not been an easy ride, from the days of Re-Akoto (1961) where the Supreme Court upheld the Preventive Detention Act, effectively allowing the government to detain individuals without trial, to the State v Otchere (1963) where the then President of Ghana, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah unilaterally declared the decision of the Court null and void and ordered the re-arrest and re-trial of the acquitted persons”.

Mr. Darko also noted that the framers of Ghana’s constitution made each arm of government a separate arm and made provisions for check and balances therefore to ensure that there is respect for each branch of the government, the framers did not provide for an Executive overreach, overreach drawn from phony allegations such as the one against the CJ.

The Minority alleged that the petition to remove the CJ stems from allegations that the CJ advised the president to promote a number of judges to the Supreme Court and presiding over a matter involving the Speaker of Parliament in an exparte motion.

“We are also told that a gentleman committed contempt in-facie curiae and was accordingly punished by the court wants the CJ removed because he has been punished by the court.

The third and I guess the most ridiculous is the alleged financial misappropriation by the CJ in which she is accused of misappropriating some GHC 75,000 or so which according to the Judicial Service has been deleted by the Auditor General”.

They stated that under article 146 of Constitution 1992, the grounds for removal of Justices of the Supreme Court; “A Justice of the Superior Court or a Chairman of the Regional Tribunal shall not be removed from office except for stated misbehaviour or incompetence or on ground of inability to perform the functions of his office arising from infirmity of body or mind”, thus, they contend that the basis for the petitions do not warrant the removal of the Chief Justice.

“How can a serious country, mindful of this facts with its desire to improving its democratic credentials entertain such a lose petition to orchestrate this? We are aware of plans being put in place to invoke article 146 (10) (a) to suspend the CJ and appoint someone who is tilting towards the NDC government to act as the CJ of the Republic”.

The Minority therefore urged civil society organisations and the traditional authorities as well as the diplomatic community not to entertain this as it will undermine the country’s democracy.