- The Madina Member of Parliament hit back at the Ghana Bar Association’s (GBA) condemnation of some statements he made suggesting that judges were politically motivated in the discharge of their work.
- Xavier Sosu while condemning the association for what he described as its failure to safeguard the country’s democracy noted, “I stand by my statement any day, any time.”
- However, the former MP for Tamale central said the aggressiveness of Xavier Sosu towards the Bar for personal or no reason is intolerable
Inusah Fuseini, a former Member of Parliament for Tamale Central has criticised the National Democratic Congress (NDC) MP for the Madina, Francis-Xavier Sosu for his comments against the Ghana Bar Association.
Speaking to Beatrice Adu on the Big Bulletin on Tuesday (February 15), Fuseini indicated that the aggressiveness of Xavier Sosu towards the Bar for personal or no reason is intolerable.
He said: “I share the view that attacking the court for no reason and not based on law or their decision is clearly unacceptable. Because the jurisdiction of the court when the case is pending before them is not invoked by emotional anger.
“And so, to attack on the judiciary and it is a very critical arm of the state and to attack the judiciary for no reason or for a personal idiosyncratic reason, doesn’t augur well for our democracy.”
Be ready to face consequences
“Well, no one can take from Xavier Sosu the right to free speech but he must be prepared for the consequences. So, of course, there is processes, rules to deal with these things,” he stated.
Full interview below
Xavier Sosu vs GBA
The National Democratic Congress (NDC) MP for the Madina, Francis-Xavier Sosu, has hit back at the Ghana Bar Association’s (GBA) condemnation of some statements he made suggesting that judges were politically motivated in the discharge of their work.
The GBA in a statement Monday described as “unprofessional, unfortunate, irresponsible and distasteful”, Sosu’s comment that some judges have become political in the line of work and that such judges would be treated as such.
In response to the GBA’s statement, Sosu while condemning the association for what he described as its failure to safeguard the country’s democracy noted, “I stand by my statement any day, any time.”
“The statement was a conditional statement and no amounts of twists and turns will extricate judicial officers and judges who would allow themselves to become agents of political partisan agenda,” he added.
The GBA in its statement on Monday noted that per the 1992 Constitution judges were not elected into office and for that matter, their tenure of office was not tied to the tenure of the political regime under which judges were appointed.
But Sosu in his response expressed his disappointment in the leadership of the GBA, saying that the Association “has reduced itself to yet another useless institution of our democratic process in these days and times. Unfortunately, the leadership’s release shows the extent to which they are politically affiliated and biased as Leaders of the Bar Association.”
Nicholas Brown
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