Chief Justice probes allegations of judicial tampering in election petition

Information available to Myjoyonline.com indicates that the Chief Justice, Mrs Georgina Theodora Wood has instituted a probe into various allegations of judicial tampering in the recently decided election petition.

A source close to the Judicial Council of Ghana said the decision to probe the allegations was taken at an emergency meeting Wednesday, November 20, 2013.

The source said claims by dismissed Deputy Communications Minister, Victoria Hamah, that Gender and Social Protection Minister, Nana Oye Lithur may have played a role in securing a favourable verdict for President John Mahama, the Electoral Commission and the governing National Democratic Congress (the Respondents in the election petition), is one of three allegations to be investigated.

It said previous claims that the judiciary was interfered with in the matter of the election petition, brought by three leaders of the opposition NPP, challenging the validity of President John Mahama’s election, have been lumped together with Vicky Hamah’s claims and are now being investigated.

In the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s 5-4 decision affirming the validity of President Mahama’s election in the 2012 poll, the Free Press Online, published allegations that the Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, had, acting on behalf of the president, bribed the nine-member panel to dismiss the petition.

The Asantehene denied the claim, just as Nana Oye Lithur did.

But the opposition New Patriotic Party, in the wake of Ms. Mahama’s claims which were contained in a leaked tape, petitioned the Chief Justice, to in the interest of protecting the sanctity of the judiciary, institute an administrative inquiry into the claims.

General Secretary of the NPP, Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie, said the denial of Nana Oye Lithur was not sufficient to allay the fears of Ghanaians that something untoward may have happened in the case.

He argued that since the former Deputy Minister was a member of government, her claims could not have been without basis and, therefore, should not be dismissed.

Our source said, in addition to Vicky Hamah’s claims, the other allegations are also being investigated.

More soon.