It appears the Member of Parliament for Bolgatanga East Constituency, Dr. Dominic Akuritinga Ayine’s constant criticisms of the judiciary particularly the Supreme Court over its handling of the 2020 election petition and his demand for the rule of law to be upheld do not sit well with some residents of Bolgatanga.
Dr. Ayine who is an astute lawyer and a former Deputy Attorney-General has, on numerous occasions, severely criticized the Supreme Court over its adjudication of the election petition and has gotten into trouble with the law court over comments and posturing the court considered scandalous.
During the election petition hearing, Dr. Ayine was cautioned by Chief Justice, Anim Yeboah for posturing in a manner the Chief Justice deemed disrespectful to the Apex Court. This was after the former Deputy Attorney-General reacted in disapproval to modalities set by the court to adjudicate the case.
He was later dragged before the Apex Court and slapped with contempt charges for claiming that the Supreme Court’s ruling dismissing an application by the petitioner, John Dramani Mahama to reopen his case was predetermined.
When he appeared before the court to answer the contempt charges, he apologized profusely and was asked to use the same medium he used to scandalize the court to render his apology. He obeyed the orders of the court and was discharged of the contempt charges.
However, Dr. Ayine’s troubles with the Apex Court seem far from over as the Chief Justice has reported him to the Disciplinary Committee of the General Legal Council over comments he made at a forum organized by the Center for Democratic Development, Ghana (CDD-Ghana).
The Bolgatanga East MP, sharing his views at the forum, questioned the independence of the judiciary due to its handling of the election petition case.
But the Chief Justice said he finds his comments disparaging to the Apex Court and unacceptable and has therefore petitioned the Legal Council to look into his conduct.
Reacting to the woes of the MP, a listener of Dreamz FM who called into the station’s current affairs show, The State of Our Nation, criticized Dr. Ayine for “running down the judges (of the Supreme Court)”.
The listener who gave his name as “Christopher” contended that the court could not have delivered a judgement that would be satisfactory to all parties hence, Dr. Ayine is wrong to constantly criticize the justices of the court for delivering a verdict against his Party’s 2020 presidential candidate.
He urged the MP to stop being a loudmouth over legal issues because he is not only one who is a legal luminary in the country and lobby for developmental projects for his constituency stating that he (Dr. Ayine) was not elected to go and fight over legalities in Parliament.
“Dominic Ayine is brother but, to me, he is too loud. He is not the only person who knows the law, there are people who also know the law but they are quiet over it. It is not the matter of talking that way. If something is done, let’s forget about it. Let’s move forward. And stop making comments about it. He is running down the judges. He is running them down and so if he is hauled before the Disciplinary Committee, I don’t see anything wrong with it. There can be no judgement that will satisfy everybody. So Ayine should stop those comments. They are not helping. We want him to bring something home for Bolga East and not to go and be challenging law over there. That is not what bring bread and butter to us in the North here,” he stated.
