Anatu Bogobiri Esq blasts NPP’s hypocrisy over CJ comments on state institutions

Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), Anatu Anne Seidu Bogobiri Esq, has accused critics of Chief Justice Paul Baffoe-Bonnie of hypocrisy.

Her comments follow backlash over remarks made by the Chief Justice during his recent engagements with state institutions, where he questioned the performance of public organisations over the previous eight years.

During a working visit to the Minerals Income Investment Fund (MIIF), Justice Baffoe-Bonnie praised the institution’s current performance before asking: “Sometimes when we hear how well some state organisations are doing now, we wonder what we really have been doing in the past eight years.”

He subsequently said President John Dramani Mahama’s agenda would benefit Ghana and urged Ghanaians to support its success.

The remarks have attracted criticism from sections of the public and the opposition, with some describing them as partisan and inappropriate for a sitting Chief Justice.

However, Ms Bogobiri has rejected the criticism, describing attempts to interpret the Chief Justice’s comments as partisan politics as “mischievous, hypocritical and unpatriotic.”

She argued that the Chief Justice had not endorsed a political party but had spoken about Ghana’s national development.

“The Chief Justice did not say ‘NDC must win 2028’. He did not say ‘vote for NDC’. He spoke about Ghana,” she said.

According to Ms Bogobiri, President Mahama’s success would benefit all Ghanaians, including supporters of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP).

“John Dramani Mahama is not just National Democratic Congress (NDC) President; he is President of the Republic of Ghana. His failure is Ghana’s failure. His success is Ghana’s success,” she stated.

She further accused critics of applying different standards to Chief Justices depending on the government in power.

“When past Chief Justices made similar calls for support for government programs those now shouting today were silent. We cannot have one standard for one government and another for President Mahama’s government,” Ms Bogobiri said.

She maintained that the judicial oath requires judges to remain impartial when adjudicating cases but does not require them to remain silent on national development.

“The Judicial Oath requires Judges to be impartial in adjudicating cases before them, not to be silent robots on national development,” she added.

Ms Bogobiri concluded that the Chief Justice, as an eminent statesman, had the right to encourage support for an agenda he believes will benefit Ghana.