Chief Justice Kwasi Anin-Yeboah is likely to become collateral damage in an ego war that has been sparked by the criminal case the Akufo-Addo government pursuing in court against former Chief Executive of COCOBOD, Dr. Stephen Kwabena Opuni.
Whatsup News has heard that Dr. Opuni’s short-lived victory in regards to his demand for the trial judge, Justice Clemence Jackson Hornyenuga, to recuse himself on grounds of demonstrated bias, was a huge blow to egos at Jubilee House and that the Chief Justice was caught flat-footed.
It would be recalled that after Justice Hornyenuga had refused to recuse himself, Dr. Opuni and his lawyers had gone to the Supreme Court and secured a ruling asking Hornyenuga to do just that.
Attorney General, Godfred Yeboah Dame would later file for a review and the addition of two more justices to the original panel would overturn the earlier ruling in favor of the government. Even so, the former COCOBOD CEO’s short-lived victory was regarded as an unforgivable impudence.
And since Jubilee House had suffered a hitch in what appears to be an agenda to jail Opuni by hook or crook, the Chief Justice become the natural fall guy because he empaneled the Supreme Court bench that dared to give Opuni that small victory,
It is not clear how the government intends to carry out the removal of Anin-Yeboah as Chief Justice, but sources have told Whatsup News the dominant vibe at the seat of government is that Anin-Yeboah must go.
Meanwhile, the Judiciary has been murmuring back – there is a strong vibe among judges that the adjudication of the Opuni case is giving the Judiciary a bad name as it has been mired in a travesty of justice.
There is the strong feeling that the case does not quite have a basis because the government has not been able to provide incontrovertible facts to nail Dr. Opuni for allegedly superintending over the supply of expired fertilizer by businessman Seidu Agongo to COCOBOD.
Justice Clemence Hornyenuga’s demonstrated bias has not been helping matters either.
The trial judge has refused to allow Dr. Opuni to present key evidence proving that the fertilizer in question was not expired as government claims. He has made prejudicial comments indicating he thinks Opuni is guilty even before the case would travel its course and crowned all these with a rather shocking refusal to recuse himself after the Defendant cited legitimate grounds of demonstrated bias.
Unhappy justices also complain that the overturn of the Supreme Court’s ruling, in the review bastardizes the court because the Supreme scarcely overturns its rulings in reviews because its judgments and rulings must carry weight.
Source: whatsupnewsghana