The minority members led by the minority leader on the Appointments Committee of Parliament yesterday fought the chairman of the committee on an innocuous question he wanted to ask a Supreme Court Justice nominee as to whether a sitting president has the power under the constitution to pardon persons who had been convicted by the Supreme Court for contempt.
The minority leader, Haruna Iddrisu said the question borders on a case currently before the Supreme Court so it would be prejudicial for the Supreme Court nominee, Justice Agnes Mercy Abla Dordzie to comment on it but the chairman maintained that he would guide the nominee in her answer in order not to prejudice the matter.
The question which was being posed by the chairman was indirectly related to the famous ‘Montie 3’ case that went to the Supreme Court.
When the chairman of the committee who is also the First Deputy Speaker, Joseph Osei-Owusu insisted on posing the question, the minority members including Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa and Sunyini Alhassan Sayibu challenged the speaker and pleaded with him to defer the question since it could create problems for the nominee and the committee.
The chairman eventually dropped the question to the relief of the minority members on the committee and asked whether the minority members have an interest in the case.
Earlier in an answer posed by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa as to what recommendations she would like to make to the police to ensure very good investigations into cases that are brought before the courts, the nominee, Mrs Dordzie said the police need to upgrade their professional investigative skills.
She said when she was an attorney in Koforidua some years back, she was marveled at the manner the police in Koforidua conducted their investigations.
According to her, there was one instance where somebody was mysteriously murdered and the police in Koforidua were able to get to the bottom of the matter and fish out the culprits who were arraigned before court.
She said the police nowadays have some shortfalls in their investigations which tend to impact on the facts that are presented to court.
The nominee told the committee that she does not believe in death sentence since it has not adequately served the purpose for which it was introduced into the statute.
She therefore called for the scrapping of death sentence from the statute books of the country.
She also said that the Regional Tribunals have outlived their usefulness and should be disbanded.
She said as a staunch Christian, she sometimes tampers justice with mercy in her ruling but she is always strict in applying the law.
She said she has always stood by fairness and impartiality and as much as possible try to be fair to all manners of people.
According to her, she would work hard as Supreme Court Justice who has risen through the ranks from a magistrate to a Justice of the Supreme Court and leave a good legacy for herself and the nation.
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