<<Print>>

Political Pressure group, the Network of Social Democrats (NESOD), has withdrawn a phrase it used to describe how the Chief Justice, Her Lordship Georgina Theodora Wood, should be removed out of office. According to the Group, �the statement was twisted, distorted and exaggerated�. The NESOD, on Thursday June 23, 2011, held a press conference where threats were issued to the Chief Justice to resign her post in fourteen days. According to the group, her regime had failed woefully to maintain professional standards in the judiciary. The group�s statement, titled �The Chief Justice must exit through the broad door or be forced out of through the narrow window�, drew widespread condemnation from the Ghana Bar Association and the Judges and Magistrates Association amongst others. The Chief Justice consequently reported the threat to the Police. The Accra Regional Police Command quickly launched investigations into the matter by setting up a high powered investigative team, led by the Regional Police commander Rose Bio Atinga. Other members of the team included ACP Christian Tetteh Yohuno, Deputy Regional Police Commander, Superintendent Emmanuel Frank Adufati, Regional Crime Officer, DSP Eric Asamoah Esiedu, Staff Officer to the Regional Commander and Chief Inspector Kwaku Dompreh of the Public affairs Unit, who invited the leadership of NESOD for investigations. However, in a new statement issued on Thursday June 30, the Group has apologized to the Chief Justice. Spokesperson for the group, Rudolf Awuankua, in a rather sober voice told Citi News that the statement that it would force the Chief Justice out of office through the narrow window if she did not resign peacefully was only metaphorical. �I would like to take this opportunity to apologize to the Chief Justice and the entire judicial system and Ghanaians that we did communicate in a way that was not appropriate to the office of the Chief Justice and her person. We did not mean to convey the impression that we intended to use violent or unconstitutional means to remove the Chief Justice. We the Network of Social Democrats do not have the intention or the ability to do so. So we want to clarify this and to apologize to the Chief and the entire judicial system". "We actually wanted a topic that will be so captivating to make the media people to come to our press conference and then we would use the content of the press to defend what we meant by it. Unfortunately, people are not going into the content of the work, but they are just using only the title that we gave to the work� he said. The Group had vowed to continue campaigning for the removal of the Chief Justice. However it�s Spokesperson appears to be giving up following the turn of events. The group�s apology comes after they were granted bail by the Police on Wednesday June 29. Rudolf Awuankua, 29, Iddisah Yeboah Seidu, 30, and George Kwaku Dzeto, 31, were charged for threats of death on the Chief Justice. The three suspects, according to the Public Relations Office of the Acca Regional Police Command, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Cyprian Zenge, were arrested when they reported themselves at the police station on Tuesday June 28, 2011, to clear themselves over the threats against the Chief justice. According to ASP Zenge, the spokesperson of the NESOD, Rudolf Rasik Awankua, claimed the group meant no harm, but would try to take appropriate and legal processes to impeach the CJ, if she fails to resign. ASP Zenge said although the suspects had been bailed, the case was still pending at the court and would continue to hunt for the rest of the members of NESOD. Further investigations into the matter, he added, were still ongoing.