Fact-Check: Justice Atuguba was never a Member of the NPP –  Solidaire Ghana explains  

Solidaire Ghana, a civil Society Organization (CSO) has provided facts on claims made by the Office of the President in relation to a retired Supreme Court Judge – Justice William Atuguba.

Speaking on TV3’s The Key Points programme on Saturday, October 28, 2023, the Director of Local Government, Decentralization and Rural Development at the Presidency, Dennis Miracle Aboagye made claims that Justice William Atuguba stood for Parliament on the ticket of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in 1992.

“In 1992, he stood on the ticket of the NPP before the NPP pulled out. Two years down the line, he declared openly in Chiana Paga that he was no longer NPP and switched to the NDC,” he claimed.

Miracle Aboagye claimed further that Justice William Atuguba was appointed by the Late J.J. Rawlings  to the Supreme Court as a representative of the National Democratic Congress (NDC).

However, Solidaire Ghana in a release signed by its Executive Director Benjamin Essuman on Tuesday, says it has fact-checked the claims and has come out with the conclusion that they are factually inaccurate and grossly misleading.

This according to the leading Civil Society Organization in Ghana, Justice William Atuguba was never an NPP parliamentary candidate.

“William Atuguba ESQ (as he was then) was never a New Patriotic Party (NPP) Parliamentary Candidate. There is preponderance of evidence that in the 1992 the NPP Parliamentary Candidate for Chiana Paga was Mr. Alowe Leo Kaba. A simple check from the office of the Electoral Commission would have saved the office of the President from such an embarrassment,” the release noted.

The group also clarified that Justice William Atuguba as a member of the bar only joined politics in 1979.

“The only time that William Atuguba as a member of the bar joined politics was in 1979 when he stood in Chiana Paga as a Parliamentary Candidate for Victor Owusu’s Popular Front Party (PFP), an adventure he soon after decided not to pursue and as such ended his campaign activities even before the polls. That was how He ended his political career if he seriously had one,” the facts revealed.

On the claims that William Atuguba was appointed by the Late J.J. Rawlings as an NDC member to the Supreme Court. They explained that “William Atuguba ESQ after years of private practice including as the Chairman of the then Upper Regional Investigations Committee and also briefly as an acting Special Public Prosecutor, had established himself as a man of integrity, having bantered and exposed some corrupt public servants, along the way.

“His appointment to the Supreme Court was therefore based on such widely-accepted impeccable track record and not based on membership of any political party, as falsely claimed by the Presidential Staffer. Justice Atuguba’s objectivity and independent mindedness is a matter of public record,” the facts further revealed.

“Justice Atuguba’s admonishing was particularly to the judiciary to uphold their fidelity to the constitution and do justice to all manner of people. The substantive matter which was among other issues addressed by the Retired Justices, was whether substantial justice was done in the matter of Gyakye Quayson. In Justice Atuguba’s view, substantial justice was not administered and this fact of the matter is reasonably conveyed by all right-thinking members of the Ghanaian public,” the group admonished

“It is surprising, that the Office of the President chose to ignore this matter and rather peddled those bizarre falsehoods, in an attempt to sweep those critical issues under the carpet. It is public knowledge that governments generally are afraid of hard truths, and that it is only in rare moments that decent members of government would listen to hard truth and concede to the truth,” the release emphasized.

Solidaire Ghana in a CSO that stands in solidarity with the plight of the suffering masses in Ghana with the aim of promoting good governance, exposing and condemning bad governance and or recommending impactful socioeconomic solutions.

Watch the Video of Dennis Miracle Aboagye on TV3’s Key Point programme:

Read the Full Statement below:

By Gertrude Edem Amuzu || ghananewsonline.com.gh