Chief Justice rejects Baffoe-Bonnie's petition against Justice Kyei-Baffour

"Your petition for His Lordship Justice Eric Kyei-Baffour to recuse himself from this matter is denied. Please note that the rejection of this petition does not mean that any legitimate complaints will be ignored but will be considered in the interest of justice," the Chief Justice said in a response dated January 27, 2020.

Baffoe-Bonnie's petition is premised on a video by social media commentator, Kevin Ekow Taylor, which was posted on a Facebook wall called "With All Due Respect".

Baffoe-Bonnie in his petition alleged that he fears he will not get justice if the judge continues to hear the matter because of unsubstantiated allegations made in the Facebook post.

"Your Lordship, my documented fears/anxieties about not getting a fair trial under the Lordship Justice Eric Kyei Baffour seem to have been heightened by a recent development as borne out by a video being circulated in the social media which was created by a journalist by the name of Kevin Ekow Taylor. In this video, Kevin Ekow Taylor made some serious allegations against Justice Eric Kyei Baffour regarding the NCA case. These allegations against Justice Eric Kyei Baffour are verifiable through an investigation that can be conducted by your Lordship," said the petition.

It continued that "In this said video, Kevin Ekow Taylor made the following "summarized" allegations that Justice Eric Kyei Baffour is being manipulated by this government to achieve a desirable/favourable outcome for the government. His Lordship Justice Eric Kyei Baffour in one of his earlier court proceedings in 2019, made a statement to the effect that "he represents the state and therefore will not tolerate these foolish applications" this was when my defense counsel had made an application on my behalf. "This allegation made by Kevin Ekow Taylor against Justice Eric Kyei Baffour as being compromised has raised some serious concerns/anxieties which will border on a miscarriage of justice if Justice Eric Kyei Baffour does not recuse himself from this case. Hence, my humble plea to your Lordship for a thorough investigation," the petition claimed.

Former Board Chairman of NCA Eugene Baffoe-Bonnie ece-auto-gen

Baffoe-Bonnie in the concluding part of his petition added: "your Lordship, based on all these unfortunate incidents of anger expressed by Justice Eric Kyei Baffour towards me, in addition to the already documented incidents of glaringly bias behaviour of Justice Eric Kyei Baffour, I have come to a reasonable conclusion that I will NOT get a fair and just trial under the Lordship of Justice Eric Kyei Baffour."

But the Chief Justice in his response to the petition, according to reports by the Daily Graphic, he would not entertain the invitation to investigate Taylor's allegations because he (Taylor) was not in Ghana and was also not a party to the suit.

Also, he said, Taylor had not disclosed his source of information or provided any evidence for any investigations to be commenced into his allegations.

"Thirdly, it will certainly set a bad precedent in the administration of justice for a Chief Justice to embark on an investigation against a sitting Superior Court judge, pursuant to an allegation from someone who is not an accused person in a trial, a lawyer for the accused or in any way related to the accused," the Chief Justice stated.