Stop flooding courts with political cases – Pianim to EC and party members

A renowned Ghanaian economist Kwame Pianim has urged the Electoral Commission (EC) and political party members to settle their cases independently without overburdening the courts with electoral cases.

According to Mr Pianim, the continuous political cases in courts can weaken their independence and make them susceptible to partisanship.

Speaking in an interview in relation to the daily trial of the Assin North Member of Parliament James Gyakye Quayson, Mr Pianim said: “Parliament is young, there is a tendency now to put a lot of burden on the fledgling judiciary which is not fair”.

“Political parties and the EC should make sure that elections are won at the ballot box, not in the court. If you put politics in front of the courts, you are weakening them. You are making them partisan. Let them be free because once we lose the independence of the judiciary, there is no justice in this country,” he noted in an interview monitored by The Ghana Report on TV3.

Mr Pianim added that the minority members who continue to stay away from parliamentary proceedings to support Mr Gyakye Quayson in court should not be paid their allowances for neglecting their primary duty in Parliament.

According to him, a lawmaker has no business boycotting Parliament.

“A parliamentarian has no business to boycott Parliament. If they boycott Parliament, their allowances should be taken off,” he insisted.