I have no intentions to clean judiciary- Mills

By Ebenezer Afanyi Dadzie/ Citifmonline.com | Mon 23rd August, 2010 17:00 GMT

Mills exchanges greetings with Vice after upon return from his leave

President John Evans Atta Mills says he has no intentions of striking at the Judiciary.

The President who was answering a wide range of questions from Journalists upon his arrival at the Kotoka International Airport on Monday August 23, said the Judiciary is independent and that he has no intentions to interfere in their work.

"The judiciary is Independent and I have no such intentions" said the President.

His Excellency was in the United States for a ten-day leave, his first since he took office in January 2009.

President Mills’ position on the perceived attack on the Judiciary by the National Chairman of his party the NDC differs from that of one of his Aides at the castle, Nii Lantey Vanderpuye, who told Citi FM on Friday August 20, that the President fully supports comments by the National Chairman.

Dr. Kwabena Adjei stated categorically that government will intervene and “clean the judiciary”, if the Chief Justice fails to fight what he sees as growing rot within the judiciary.

The comments, described by some legal luminaries as a subversion of the country’s 1992 constitution has drawn widespread condemnation from the Ghanaian populace.

On Thursday, August 19, the minority in parliament called for the immediate arrest of Dr. Kwabena Adjei, arguing that his comments on the judiciary amounted to treason and must therefore be hauled to answer for his comments.

The Association of Magistrates and Judges of Ghana also condemned the remarks.

Dr. Kwabena Adjei has since explained that he only sought to restore confidence in the judiciary and that his statements were being misconstrued by political opponents.

For now it remains unclear if the president’s reaction will put the matter to rest or lighten up the debate further since he appeared quite brief in responding to the matter.