The immediate past Chief Justice Sophia Akuffo, has postulated that the bribery allegation by the Member of Parliament (MP) for Asawase Constituency in the Ashanti Region, Alhaji Mohammed Mubarak Muntaka has upset her.
She decried that the lawmaker had defamed all Supreme Court justices with his bribery allegation when he claimed a Supreme Court judge made an offer through a phone conversation to a member of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) caucus in Parliament to vote for former Speaker Mike Oquaye during thecontest for a new Speaker.
Commenting on the development, Justice Sophia Akuffo bemoaned that the allegation upsets her saying “I am upset at the thought that that kind of accusation will be made, I don’t like accusations like that, it is like throwing a bucket of dirty water at people and you are aiming at somebody but you just threw it and it dirties everybody.”
Subsequently, Alhaji Muntaka insisted that he would back the claim with evidence if need be however, Professor Oquaye lost the Speaker position to the NDC candidate Alban Bagbin.
According to Justice Sophia Akuffo, there were 17 people defamed in the causal manner but talking about only one person, there are other 16 people who had been wrongly defamed by Alhaji Muntaka.
In a statement on the development, the Judicial Service said the Judiciary expressed concern about the remarks of Alhaji Muntaka, which had been widely published in the media, alleging that a Justice of the Supreme Court attempted to bribe an NDC female MP to vote for Prof. Mike Oquaye in the election of the Speaker of the 8th Parliament, which took place on January 7, 2021.
It assured that the Chief Justice had considered the allegation of impropriety an issue of import to the integrity of the Judiciary and he was taking steps to solicit the assistance and support of Alhaji Muntaka, to establish the facts in order that the issue could be dealt with appropriately.–Starr FM
