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Former Central Regional Chairman of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Bernard Allotey Jacobs, has jabbed the party's 2020 Presidential candidate, John Dramani Mahama, over his criticisms against the Judiciary and his call for a new Chief Justice.

The former President expressed bitter sentiments about the current leadership of the Judiciary, saying, “so badly has the image of our Judiciary deteriorated that many of our citizenry openly make mockery of our justice system and of our justices. The phrase ‘Go to Court’ is these days met with derisive laughter, instead of hope that one will truly get justice”.

“There is, therefore, the urgent need for the Ghanaian Judiciary to work to win the trust and confidence of the citizenry, and erase the widely held perception of hostility and political bias in legal proceedings at the highest courts of the land.”

Unfortunately, we have no hope that the current leadership of our Judiciary can lead such a process of change. We can only hope, that a new Chief Justice will lead the process to repair the broken image that our Judiciary has acquired over the last few years,” he emphasized while speaking at the 2nd Annual Lawyers Conference of the party on Sunday August 28.

But Allotey Jacobs, as a former stalwart of the opposition party, says Mr. Mahama's comments are nothing but a political ploy.

He explained that it is a strategy by the former President and the NDC to discredit the Judiciary and it is all in response to comments by the current President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, that he hopes to see a New Patriotic Party (NPP) Presidential candidate win the 2024 Presidential elections.

"The same old story; the fear of the 2020 verdict. So, if the President says this, then I'm not going to attack the President but I'm going to attack the Judiciary that gave the verdict for the President to be the President. That is the tactics," he claimed while speaking on Peace FM's "Kokrokoo" morning show.

"The Judiciary is the four-foundation pillars upon which our democracy thrive . . . So, immediately you start to attack a pillar [not the four], even a pillar, it means there is something cooking somewhere . . . It is a strategy. This is a political strategy but it is unfortunate . . .", he said.

He also replied the former President saying, "when somebody talks about Ghanaians not liking the current Judiciary rules and so forth, it is the creation of the NDC. It is a fact. They have named these Judges as 'Unanimous FC'. So, if somebody comes on platform and attribute it to Ghanaians, it is not Ghanaians but his own people. So, you can't muddy the water and then come and accuse somebody".

Allotey cautioned Mr. Mahama against his attack on the Judiciary, warning "it looks like we are invoking the devil to descend [in] 2024. Is the devil going to be our Judge? You know what goes along with the devil; chaos, anarchy!"