When Two Legal Brains Clash...Ayikoi Otoo Slates Mike Oquaye

The former Chairman of the Legal and Constitutional Committee of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) has fired salvos at his immediate successor, describing his Legal Opinion on recent developments within the party as ill-intended. According to Hon. Ayikoi Otoo, the current Chairman of the Committee, Prof Aaron Mike Oquaye is behaving as though he is a �champion of law knowledge but his opinion is meant to serve the interest of a particular function in the NPP.� ��If Prof. Mike Oquaye has an opinion and he does not give it to the current executives of the party (in private) but chooses to put it in the press,� it�s up to him,� he said. To him, it is out of place for legal brains to offer opinions on legal matters without being commissioned to do so. �...can Supreme Court wake up and state its legal opinion on the happenings in the NPP without being petitioned�Mike Oquaye thinks he is a champion of Law knowledge,� he asserted on NEAT 100.9 FM. His comments comes on the back of the publication of a document purported to be the outcome of investigations into the suspension of the NPP�s Director of Finance and Administration, Opare Hammond and Acting Communications Director, Perry Okudzeto. Opare Hammond was relieved of his position for allegedly committing some acts bordering on financial improprieties. Perry Okudzeto, on the other hand, was also asked to proceed on leave by the General Secretary, Kwabena Agyepong, but in the opinion of the Legal and Constitutional Committee of the NPP, the two must be reinstated. But even though he refrained from discussing the substance of Hon Mike Oquaye�s �legal opinion�, the former Deputy Attorney-General in the erstwhile Kufuor administration, stated that the leadership of the Committee should have been tight lipped about its findings. Hon. Ayiko Otoo held the view that going public with such vital information was a calculated action to serve the interest of one block of the party which could bring the image of the Chairman and General Secretary into disrepute and could also go a long way in destroying the party.