Chief Justice refers Dr.Dominic Ayine to General Legal Council

The Chief Justice, His Lordship Kwasi Anin Yeboah, has referred Dr.Dominic Ayine, former Deputy Attorney General under the John Mahama Administration, and Member of Parliament for Bolgatanga East, to the General Legal Council for an investigation into comments made by him.

Dr.Dominic Ayine is said to have questioned the Independence of Ghana’s judiciary at a CDD-Ghana Roundtable Discussion on the theme, “Presidential Election Petitions and their Impact on Africa’s Democracy”.  He explained, his view was informed by how the 2020 Presidential Election Petition dispute was handled by the apex court of the Land.

Dr.Dominic Ayine among other things said that the Supreme Court in the adjudication of the Election petition failed to apply the rules of procedure by continuously dismissing the plaintiff’s applications.

“I expected the Supreme Court to apply faithfully the rules of procedure to – in terms of adducing evidence – prove the petitioner’s case and so on. What we saw was a Supreme Court that was constantly putting hurdles in the way of the petitioner in terms of adducing evidence to prove the petitioner’s case”.

Mr.Ayine also said, “I am sure for ordinary Ghanaians or the electorate generally, the fact that the Supreme Court judges – all nine of them – on almost every application were unanimous in rejecting and dismissing the case of the petitioner was very telling in terms of the open-mindedness or otherwise of the Justices as far the petition was concerned and for me as a Lawyer,”.

The Chief Justice deems the said comments at the CDD Ghana roundtable discussion, “disparaging… and unacceptable” and wants them investigated. He referred to the fact that the said comments were made after Dr. Ayine had made similar comments for which he was cited for contempt of court to which he “apologized profusely” and was pardoned.

A petition dated May 25, 2021, and signed by the Judicial Secretary, Justice Cynthia Pamela Addo, has been sent to the Chairman of the General Legal Council for the investigations to commence into Dr.Ayine’s comments.