Osei-Owusu hits back at Minority over claims of rushing C.J approval process

Chairman of Parliament’s Appointments Committee, Joseph Osei-Owusu, has hit back at Minority over claims of rushing approval of Chief Justice nominee.

The Minority is already accusing the government of sacrificing Parliamentary procedure on the altar of long-time friendship and familiarity.

Speaking on News Nite on Joy FM Monday, Minority Chief Whip, Muntaka Mubarak, explained that, “everybody knows about his friendship and how familiar he is with the nominee. We do not say that government is going to be able to run all of us to whoever is familiar with the person and his personal friend. We believe that we need to do our work in a diligent manner. We need to restrict each other and be able to keep to what we agree. Even if you look at the manner used in convening the meeting, it was not fair.”

In a statement, the Minority is also claiming the Appointments Committee Chairman unilaterally called the public announcement of the proposed date of vetting without regard to an ongoing dialogue to abridge the time for the process describing it as bad faith.

Minority Chief Whip, Mohammed Muntaka Mubarak

Muntaka Mubarak told host, Evans Mensah that “just a few weeks ago, the three judges [Mariama Owusu, Avril Lovelace-Johnson and Gertrude Torkornoo] who came before us, were advertised for two weeks and these are ordinary members of the bench of the Supreme Court. Now you are going to do that for the head of the judiciary. You think that we met on December 12, you want to vet and get approval before December 21, what it means is that you are trashing all the process to do it in one week including the weekend.”