Sam Okudzeto, a former president of the Ghana Bar Association (GBA), has condemned what he describes as an attempt by the former president John Mahama to politicise the judiciary in Ghana.
Mahama has criticised Ghana’s Supreme Court for recent judgments and has argued that the judiciary’s reputation has been severely tarnished.
“The image of our judiciary deteriorated [such] that many of our citizenry openly make a mockery of our justice system and of our justices,” the former president said recently.
“The phrase ‘go to court’ is these days met with derisive laughter instead of hope that one will truly get justice if he went to the court.”
According to the former president, “If people are not poking fun about politics and inducement being used to sway the hand of justice in the lower court, then it is poking fun and making statements about the 7-0 of the Unanimous FC: verdicts which mostly involve cases of a political nature in our Supreme Court.
“Existential threat”
“This is an unfortunate but serious development. One of the scariest existential threats to any democracy is when citizens think the judiciary holds no value for them,” Mahama added.
However, reacting to the development on the Asaase Breakfast Show on Tuesday (13 September 2022), Okudzeto urged Mahama to use the right channels to address any grievances he might have against the judges.
“Sometimes you can perceive out of ignorance, and when you raise an issue, there are people who have the necessary experience and training and may correct you and say your perception is wrong,” he said.
Okudzeto added, “There is a jaw-jaw situation that is there for us to use, but when you are using a political platform, your agitations are not meant to create corrections. You should use a mechanism that can bring about change.”
Fred Dzakpata
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