The Executive Director of the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), Sulemana Braimah, has commended Ghana’s democratic system for allowing open expression of diverse views on national issues.
His comments come in response to the Minority in Parliament’s call for the suspension of the vetting of the newly nominated Chief Justice, citing ongoing court cases related to Justice Gertrude Torkornoo’s exit from office.
Speaking on JoyNews’ The Pulse programme, he said Ghana is witnessing the strength of its democracy as different views are freely expressed on national issues.
“We are seeing the benefits of democracy in full display, where different opinions are being expressed and citizens are exercising their constitutional and democratic rights,” he said.
“What the Minority is doing in Parliament is part of the democratic process, and I believe such engagements will only strengthen the resilience of our democracy.”
He further noted that Ghana currently does not have a substantive Chief Justice and that the President is constitutionally obliged to act on the recommendations of the appointing committee.
“As we speak now, we don’t have a substantive CJ. The President has a responsibility. Once the committee was set up and the committee’s recommendations were made, the President decided that, well, the Constitution actually binds the President to act on the basis of the recommendations of the committee,” Mr. Braimah stated.
Mr. Braimah argued that it would be negligent for the President to delay the process of appointing a new Chief Justice simply because of pending court cases.
“I think that it will be quite negligent on the part of the President to say that even though there is no CJ, I’m not going to roll out the process of having a substantive CJ in place,” he said.
He maintained that while democratic rights must be respected, constitutional duties should continue to be performed to ensure stability and governance continuity.
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