Member of Parliament for Asawase Constituency, Alhaji Mohammed-Mubarak Muntaka has withdrawn allegations he levelled against a Supreme Court Judge and has rendered an apology to the Judiciary on same.
In a Press release sighted by angelonline.com.gh and signed by the MP who doubles as Minority Chief Whip, he indicated that his comments were based on “a report from a trusted colleague which was that she had been approached by a Justice of the Supreme Court seeking to entice her to vote for a particular candidate during the contest for speakership of Parliament.”
Alhaji Muntaka acknowledged his wrong when he failed to name the specific individual around whom the issue revolved to avoid putting the entire Judiciary into disrepute.
He said “admittedly, because I did not specifically name any Judge, this may have had the effect of scandalizing the judiciary in its entirety. This unintended consequence is deeply regretted.”
“I therefore wish to respectfully retract same and apologise for the harm done to the image and reputation of my Lord Justices of the Supreme Court and the Judiciary as a whole.”
He indicated his resolve to refrain from any further public commentary in the matter which according to him was originally reported to him by a female colleague Parliamentarian.
He implores the public and the media to respect the spirit in which he offers the retraction and apology while praying that the issue talked about does not negatively affect the cordial relationship between the Judiciary and the Legislature.
Background
On January 10 2021, Alhaji Muntaka made some allegations against a Supreme Court Judge in an interview with a television broadcast station in which interview he said that a Judge tried to bride one of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Member of Parliament to vote for Professor Aaron Mike Oquaye as Speaker of Parliament.
This did not sit well with some members of the Judiciary especially the Ghana Bar Association who called on him to retract the statement and apologise on same because his comment “undermines the integrity of and erode public confidence in the Justice delivery process, and may result in lawlessness.”
