A Public Interest Civic Interrogation Commentary
By J.A. Sarbah
A Public Brief on Executive Conduct and Constitutional Integrity
Despite the strategic counsel available to President John Dramani Mahama — including former Attorney General Marietta Brew and incumbent Attorney General Dr. Dominic Ayine, recent executive decisions raise troubling constitutional, ethical, and governance dilemmas. The following public queries demand clarity, accountability, and civic redress:
I. On Rule Of Law And Judicial Autonomy
- Under what constitutional authority does the President justify his active complicity in the orchestration of a political witch-hunt against Chief Justice Gertrude Torkornoo, in the absence of any verifiable judicial miscondut?
- By what legal or ethical logic does the President seek to manipulate the composition of the superior courts through opaque and ideologically biased appointments, risking the structural integrity of judicial independence?
- What precedent does it set for the executive branch to quash an outstanding four-year bench warrant against a known propagandist and political surrogate, Mr. Kelvin Taylor — merely for political convenience?
II. On Selective Justice And Abuse Of Executive Discretion
- Why has President Mahama ordered and/ or supervised the withdrawal of prosecutorial charges against several former appointees and party financiers involving allegations of willful financial loss to the state in excess of hundreds of millions of cedis and dollars?
- Why does the Mahama administration exonerate allies implicated in grand corruption while employing the justice system as a tool to persecute political opponents over comparatively minor infractions — all under the performative guise of “fighting corruption”?
- Is Ghana’s justice delivery system now to be seen as a partisan instrument of vengeance or a neutral pillar of the republic?
III. On State Capture And Resource Allocation
- What justification exists for the allocation of high-value mineral assets and concessions to the President’s biological brother (Ibrahim Mahama) — raising red flags of nepotism, conflict of interest, and executive overreach?
- What legislative or constitutional explanation does the President offer for his refusal to declare a state of emergency on illegal mining (galamsey) despite having pledged it as a cornerstone of his environmental rescue policy?
IV. On Moral Inconsistency And Duality Of Character
- How does the President reconcile his public condemnation of the National Cathedral project with his deliberate courting of religious leaders; creating an image of calculated duplicity rather than principled opposition?
- What accounts for the President’s growing image as a Janus-faced figure, projecting humility and democratic rectitude in public, yet engineering authoritarian maneuvers behind closed doors?
V. On Executive Sanity And Constitutional Fitness
- If the President is surrounded by competent legal minds, is it the case that he is consistently rejecting sound counsel, or does his pattern of governance suggest a deterioration in judgment, emotional balance, or executive sanity?
- Does President Mahama, in light of these troubling patterns, still meet the constitutional standard of sound mind required of the office he occupies?
Final Submission
This interrogation does not emerge from partisanship, but from a place of principled civic alarm. If these matters are not addressed, the office of the presidency risks descending into personalised absolutism shrouded in electoral legitimacy.
We call on Parliament, the Ghana Bar Association, civil society, and all lovers of constitutional order to speak now or bear responsibility for their silence.
J. A. Sarbah |
PP Firebrand | Constitutional & Public Moralist
