Mensah Thompson, the Executive Director of ASEPA
Mensah Thompson, the Executive Director of the Alliance for Social Equity and Public Accountability, ASEPA, has taken on President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo over his rejection of their petition seeking the removal of the Chief Justice, Kwasi Anin-Yeboah.
In a Joy FM interview, Mensah Thompson accused President Akufo-Addo of treating the laws of the country with contempt.
He refuted claims by the presidency that ASEPA’s petition had no merit and referenced Article 146 to back his claim that the only role reserved for the president in matters like this is to serve as conveyor belt.
“President Akufo-Addo has shown that he has absolutely no respect for the laws considering what has been done and the effect of such backlash,” he said.
Article 146 which he quoted says “the President, upon receipt of such a petition, must act in consultation with the Council of State to appoint a committee consisting two Justices of the Supreme Court and three other persons who are not members of the Council of State, nor Members of Parliament, nor lawyers to inquire into the petition and make a recommendation.”
“The Council of State did their report, we don’t know the contents of the report of the Council of State. The President said he was going to apprise himself or he was going to apprise the Council of State with his findings on an investigation he went to do to ensure that they are on the same page. So if this report that they are reading is actually the report of the Council of State or the report of our President’s own investigation, we don’t know,” he said.
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on Monday, August 23, 2021 announced that the petition praying the dismissal of Chief Justice Anin-Yeboah has been dismissed as it carried no basis and that no prima facie case could be established for further probe.
“The petition is devoid of any basis warranting the setting up of a committee under Article 146 (6) to undertake the very serious business of removing a Chief Justice from office,” portions of the statement by the presidency to ASEPA said Monday. It further noted:“The petition is dismissed accordingly”.
ASEPA wrote to the President to initiate possible dismissal processes of the Chief Justice after a $5million bribery allegation was made against him by a private legal practitioner, Akwasi Afrifa.
Afrifa in a response to the General Legal Council’s disciplinary body revealed that his former client, Ogyeedom Obranu Kwesi Atta, the chief of Efutu and Gomoa Adjumako told him that the Chief Justice had made certain demands in order to pass judgment in their favor.