Muntaka Backs Down On Blanket Bribery Allegation Against Faceless Supreme Court judge

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) Member of Parliament (MP) for Asawase Constituency, Mohammed-Mubarak Muntaka has curiously apologised for what he described as a scandalising the “judiciary in its entirety” when he alleged that a current Supreme Court Judge has been caught in bribery.

A few days after the riotous election in Parliament to select the next Speaker, Muntaka went on air and confidently announced that he knows a Supreme Court Judge who tried to bribe an NDC MP to influence her to vote for the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) choice for Speaker of Parliament, Professor Aaron Mike Ocquaye.

However, the election went badly wrong for the NPP, when the Speaker choice by the opposition NDC, Alban Sumana Bagbin won the Speakership.

“Shamefully, a Supreme Court judge called a lady colleague telling her what they will give her if she votes for Prof Mike Oquaye. He told her that, they will help her take care of her children. She can take fuel from a filling station for free for the next four years. So we [NDC] are going to look into it. We will look at the time he made those calls,” he told JoyNews on January 10, 2021.

Muntaka’s allegation essentially highlighted the fact that the unnamed Supreme Court judge was plainly a political stooge working in the interest of the NPP. 

However, in a statement released on Saturday, February 6, 2021, Muntaka made a strange U-Turn, saying that “Based upon good counsel, I have also decided to let sleeping dogs lie and will consequently refrain from any further public commentary on the matter which, as I have indicated was originally reported to me by a female colleague Parliamentarian.”

The serious allegation has generated public angst as the Supreme Court judges whose reputation has already come under scrutiny has to parry further dent to their reputations.

The refusal to name the specific judge made the entire Supreme Court Bench candidate for suspicion as the Chief Justice, Kwasi Anin Yeboah claimed he will cause an investigation into the matter.

It is unclear why Muntaka issued the apology as speculations fly about. However, a critical study of his statement reveals a cryptic message where he did not claim there was no such bribery. Rather, the focus of his apology was to excuse the other judges who are not involved in the bribery scandal, hence his reference to the fact that his allegation brought undue attention to the “entirety of the judiciary”.