Tsatsu Is A Coward - Sir John

The General Secretary of the main opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie, has described the Lead Counsel of the governing National Democratic Congress in the recently ended election petition trial, Mr. Tsatsu Tsikata, as a coward. In a statement responding to Mr. Tsikata�s allegations of political bias against Justice Anin Yeboah, one of the nine Justices who heard the election petition case, Sir John, as Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie is popular known, said: �If Tsatsu Tsikata was a very brave man, he should have made his comments during the trial and not wait for the case to end before attacking Justice Anin Yeboah�. Mr. Tsikata, on TV3�s Hot Issues programme hosted by Kwesi Pratt Jr. on Saturday August 31, 2013, accused Justice Anin Yeboah of allowing his political affiliation to cloud his judgment. According to the former Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation, Justice Anin Yeboah consistently took an opposing stance against the NDC�s arguments and position as far as the case was concerned, right from the outset, because he was appointed as a judge by former President John Agyekum Kufuor and therefore was being loyal to the cause of the ex-Head of State and his party, the NPP. Sir John however has described the logic behind Mr. Tsikata�s accusations as warped and inconsistent. He said the allegations were �without basis and clearly a calculated attempt by him and the NDC to begin their attacks on the judiciary�. According to Sir John, there were numerous instances during the trial where an 8-1 ruling was given by the court in certain matters and never was there an instance where Justice Anin Yeboah was the only dissenting judge in such a situation. �If going by Tsatsu Tsikata�s logic, Justice Anin Yeboah was appointed by Kufuor and as such owes his loyalty to NPP, then what do we say about the four judges who decided that no irregularity occurred in the 2012 elections to warrant a nullification of the tainted votes?� Sir John asked. �Again, if I�m to go by Tsatsu�s logic, did Justices Atuguba, Gbadegbe and Akoto Bamfo, who voted decided that no infraction took place in the December 2012 election and that the petition was without merit, do so because they were all appointed by the NDC under President Rawlings and late President Mills?� Sir John wondered. Per his arguments, �if Justice Anin Yeboah was truly biased in favour of the petitioners, he would have upheld and not dismissed the petitioners� claims on duplicate serial numbers, unknown polling stations and polling stations with same polling station codes�. He therefore admonished the NDC to call its �hawks� to order as their continued attacks on the judiciary were not helpful. �The consistent attacks on the 3rd arm of government by functionaries and surrogates of the NDC must cease. It is not helpful for our democratic dispensation to always tag a judge as belonging to one political party or another. It must stop,� Sir John added.