Dennis Miracles Aboagye, an aspirant for the National Communications Officer position of the New Patriotic Party, has raised concerns about what he describes as the selective handling of criminal cases by Ghana’s judiciary, arguing that recent developments have deepened unease over fairness in the administration of justice.
Speaking on JoyNews’ PM Express ahead of a planned NPP demonstration, Aboagye said the protest was driven partly by growing concern over the selective application of justice. The demonstration comes amid heightened political debate over the handling of high-profile cases involving politicians and public officials, with the NPP accusing state institutions of unfairly targeting certain individuals while treating others differently.
When asked whether the incarceration of Ashanti Regional NPP Chairman Bernard Antwi Boasiako, known as Chairman Wontumi, and the case involving former MASLOC Chief Executive Sedinam Tamakloe had influenced the protest, Aboagye said concerns about selective justice had become impossible to ignore. “The selective justice, the selective application of our justice system, is also obvious to all of us. It’s become even now blatant,” he said.
Aboagye disclosed that he had written to the Chief Justice to express concerns about what he described as the judiciary’s closeness to the Executive. Although the Chief Justice did not personally respond, the Judicial Secretary issued a statement addressing some of the issues raised. “The judicial secretary responded, and I thought, okay, it’s fine. At least they’ve clarified certain things,” Aboagye said. He maintained, however, that the judiciary must remain insulated from political influence. “I am of the view that we need to keep our judiciary very far away from our politics, far, far, far away from our politics.”
Rejecting comparisons with past administrations, Aboagye insisted his concerns were based on current developments. “I don’t take those excuses of comparisons, those excuses of what was done. I don’t care. I am a citizen. I feel that, as it is happening today, I am worried about it. I want to speak up.”
He argued that many people expected to join the protest shared similar concerns. “The tens and thousands of people you will be seeing tomorrow on the street are simply saying that the judiciary seems to be romancing with the executive and is making the executive too comfortable.”
Pressed to explain what he meant by selective justice, Aboagye pointed to the handling of criminal cases during the legal vacation. “For example, listen, a criminal is a criminal.” He questioned why only certain criminal cases had been selected to proceed while others remained pending. “Now you have a lot of cases in the court, a lot of criminal cases, a lot of civil cases. Some of them predate even 2020… Every year you go on your legal vacation. This year, you are going on legal vacation, and you say that even though all of you are being tried for criminal cases, I have selected a few of you, and as for you, you can’t go and rest. You must go through the criminal procedure. That is selective justice.”
