The Secret Faces Behind The CJ

Deeper digging into the affairs of the Judicial Service reveals an inner circle, specifically created by ex-President John Agyekum Kufuor remote controlling Ghana Judiciary headed by the malleable Georgina Theodora Wood to execute a certain agenda in a capacity as Chief Justice.

It is a well-orchestrated scheme which also saw the elevations of judges perceived to be pro-New Patriotic Party (NPP) to both the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court, who will be on the bench for well over 20-years, barring infirmity or sudden death.

With these barriers in place, no case, however, dirty, could fly in the court of law.

The hidden faces include the ex-Director of Ghana School of Law, Kweku Ansa-Asare, who converted the school into a private goldmine, and abused his position by awarding contract for the purchase of books, at billions of cedis, to his private company, Readwide Books Limited, located at Kanda in Accra.

Mr. Ansa-Asare, who never fails to taunt his NPP credentials, was investigated by the Justice Akamba Committee set up by the then Minister for Justice, Ayi Koi Otu, and it was confirmed that, indeed, he misappropriated the school’s funds and also abused his position as the Director of Legal Education.

He was subsequently chased out by the lecturers of the school but his intimacy within the previous regime survived.

There are even reports that the current Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Mrs. Betty Mould Iddrisu, is refusing to act on the damning recommendations of Justice Akamba Committee, because Mr. Ansa-Asare is a close friend of hers.

Another face is that of Lawyer Afua Ghartey. She is the wife of the ex-Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Joe Ghartey.

Mrs. Ghartey is an intimate friend of Mrs. Wood, and they have been praying together.

So when Mr. Joe Ghartey recently called for the arrest of the ruling NDC National Chairman for treason, he was apparently jumping to the defense of his wife’s friend and helper.

Another big but hidden face is that of Justice Seth Twum, a private legal practitioner, who became a Justice of the Supreme Court, only a few years before he hit 70 years. He once served as Mr. Tsatsu Tsikata’s lawyer, but abandoned him midway when the ex-GNPC boss decided to challenge the constitutionality of the Fast Track Court in 2002.

Justice Twum, had said that as a member of the NPP, he should not be seen battling his own government.

Thus, between his political party affiliation and Tsatsu’s freedom, he chose NPP over the man’s freedom.

One other person who was also among the clique behind the justice system was none other than the late ex-National Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), B. J. Da Rocha.

Apparently, the clique had been in place for a longtime, but its work was most felt when after several trips abroad for medical treatment, Chief Justice George Kingsley Acquah, was pronounced dead at the 37 Military Hospital in Accra.

Justice Acquah’s health condition was declared hopeless in a London hospital where he was undergoing treatment for cancer, according to insiders in the Judicial Service and the 37 hospital, but was not making any progress hence was sent home to die.

Justice Acquah’s death marked the beginning of the work of the clique. Justice Kpegah should be made Chief Justice, but must first serve for six months in an acting capacity pending satisfactory conduct.

With this decided, also begun the visits by top NPP gurus to both the Ridge Residence as well as Justice Kpegah’s office within the Supreme Court building.

Among them included Nana Ohene Ntow, the then General Secretary of the NPP and Mr. Ansa-Asare and others, with a mission; they were going to help him with his work, with some of them making very wild claims on the poor judge.

The Herald learnt that within the top echelons of the NPP, Justice Kpegah who hails from Hohoe in the Volta Region, was to become the substantive Chief Justice, while Georgina Wood, in the event of the NPP’s victory in the 2008 elections and Nana Akufo Addo as president, will resign from the Supreme Court to become the Speaker of Parliament.

Also behind the curtains was the then Speaker of Parliament, Ebenezer Begyina Sekyi Hughes.

He is said to have many times, invited Justice Kpegah to meetings to discuss his impending appointment but Justice Kpegah refused to honour his invitations.

But the shocking thing about all these is the involvement of Dr. Obed Yao Asamoah.

He is said to have, visited the home of Justice Kpegah, by the residence of the exiled National Security Minister, Francis Poku, to find out whether Justice Kpegah was mentally sound and physically fit to work as Chief Justice.

Dr. Asamoah’s involvement was due to reports being circulated by a group led by Justice Twum that Justice Kpegah had suffered stroke and, as such, had become senile, and a human vegetable, therefore pushing Justice William Atuguba to issue a press statement announcing himself as the acting Chief Justice.

The ex-National Democratic Congress (NDC) Chairman, having satisfied himself that Justice Kpegah was rather in a good health, then called Mr. Francis Poku on phone, and Justice Kpegah asked to speak with Mr. Poku who was by then in the presence of President Kufuor, at the Castle.

It was during the telephone conversation that Mr. Poku told Justice Kpegah that the letter appointing him as acting Chief Justice for six months would be delivered by the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General, Mr. Joe Ghartey.

And true to Mr. Poku’s promise, the letter was hand-delivered, but with a caveat that President Kufuor had asked that Mrs. Wood and Afua Ghartey(Joe Ghartey’s wife),had been tasked to help him in his work as acting Chief Justice.

Mrs. Ghartey and Mrs. Wood, within hours, visited Justice Kpegah’s residence at Ridge-Accra to confirm the directive of Mr. Kufuor, that they been appointed to help him as acting Chief Justice.

Mr. Joe Ghartey has made another claim which is billed for another edition of The Herald newspaper.

But when the six months was over, Mr. Kpegah hadn’t acquainted himself properly, therefore, Georgina Wood his junior by far was asked to replace him.