Deputy NDC General Secretary Mustapha Gbande has dismissed the opposition NPP’s protest over the suspension of the Chief Justice, declaring that demonstrations cannot change what is clearly rooted in law.
Speaking on PM Express on Joy News on Monday, May 5, the Director of Operations at the Presidency insisted that while citizens, including the NPP, have every right to protest, no number of people on the streets can override constitutionally mandated processes.
“At this point, the demonstrators drive their power from a Constitution—their right to demonstrate—and they’ve done so,” he said.
“The same Constitution requires that certain processes be followed in certain decisions. I don’t think that demonstrations have concentrated enough structures such that they could displace decisions that are being taken based on constitutionally provided guidelines.”
Mustapha Gbande said the ongoing legal and administrative steps taken by President John Mahama to suspend the Chief Justice were consistent with constitutional provisions.
He argued that anyone with concerns should allow those mechanisms to work rather than stir emotions in the streets.
“We should respect that same Constitution and allow the processes to continue,” he maintained.
He also addressed comments made by fellow guest on the show, Andrew Egyapa Mercer of the NPP.
“I’ve heard my brother Egyapa Mercer’s opening remarks saying they’ve poured a lot of numbers onto the streets, which is good. Nobody underestimated the NPP and their membership,” Mustapha Gbande said.
“The argument has never been that because the NPP lost elections, the party has collapsed. It is still a strong political party, and we respect that.”
He added that if the goal of the demonstration was to display popularity, that was their prerogative, but it ultimately changed nothing.
“Perhaps they wanted to test their popularity, which is good. But at the end of the day, they also failed to drive home anything, because clearly there was no need for the demonstration in the first place,” Mustapha Gbande said.
He dismissed suggestions that the NPP or its lawyers had any legal standing to unilaterally determine the validity of the President’s actions regarding the Chief Justice.
“All the things they have talked about have already been spoken. People have shared opinions. Some disagree, others agree,” he said.
“But at the end of the day, it is not the place of the NPP, my brother Egyapa Mercer, or Alexander Afenyo-Markin to determine whether or not all of these processes find fidelity with the law.”
Mustapha Gbande urged all parties to allow the constitutional process to play out, stressing that democracy is not strengthened by noise or numbers but by fidelity to the rule of law.
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