Unfair Impeachment in Six Hours

Can anyone believe that the entire inquiry proper was concluded within six hours -about five hours of one continuous sitting, for examining and recording the evidence of 16 witnesses and marking over 1,000 pages of documents, and 20 minutes for considering and approving the final report.

The Chief Justice of the country was summarily dismissed without a fair trial, in secrecy, in her absence, on the findings of a partial panel, without the four Opposition members, and after denying her right to a legitimate defence, contrary to all principles of natural justice? The final determining panel of seven was one-sided, of only Government ministers.

How was it possible to finish the hearing of 16 witnesses and to examine over 1,000 pages of documents, in just five hours and how can the deliberations, findings, the preparation, consideration and approval of the entire report take place in just 20 minutes?

There is a great mystery as to how it happened. Was there an outside hand involved in manipulating the process and especially in preparing the final report? When and where was it prepared? Everything seems a predetermined and a foregone conclusion.

The Supreme Court considered the Standing Orders as inadequate and the Court of Appeal quashed the findings of the PSC, yet the rulings and orders were contemptuously disregarded. The Judiciary has now come under the spell of the political authorities.

We, the members of the Bar, are entitled to know the truth and we must investigate and find the truth, as it concerns us most i.e. the head of the justice system has been unfairly treated and summarily dismissed. We cannot be mere spectators to this tragedy.

The Bar cannot dismiss the entire episode lightly, it is too serious a matter to forget or ignore, to acquiesce or condone as fait accompli, and it is a shame that the Bar should abandon the struggle for justice, for the restoration of the Chief Justice.

It is not a question of success or failure, but to continue to agitate and campaign, to sustain the tempo, and seek to rectify the injustice. The future of the justice system is at stake, the Judiciary is already shaken by the might of the political authority...