Most gov’t institutions have been politicised; Judiciary need reforms – Mahama

Former President, John Dramani Mahama has called for reforms in the Judiciary insisting that most government institutions have been politicised under the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) government.

Speaking to some supporters of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the United States over the weekend, the former President charged the Chief Justice to take steps to carry out the needed reforms.

“We do have problems with the Judiciary, I must say. I think that it is necessary for some internal reforms to take place there. It is necessary for the Chief Justice or whoever is responsible to make some reforms.

“Most of the governance institutions have been politicised. I give the example of the Judiciary. It is only in Ghana that a Supreme Court will make a decision that a birth certificate is not proof of citizenship,” John Dramani Mahama noted.

The former President continued, “There are many such funny judgements that have been given. I remember at one time, our colleague Professor Raymond Atuguba said that from research he had done, judges turn to give their judgements in favour of the political party or leader that appointed them.

“He was subjected to such a whirlwind of indignation by the Judiciary, but if you bring it down to what is happening today, and you look at it and see who appointed who, you will find that there was some truth in the research.”

According to the 2020 presidential candidate of the NDC, Judges must step up their game and ride on the back of the tenure that comes with their appointment to give fair judgments.

“The thing is, our constitution gives the security of tenure to judges. Once you have been appointed, you cannot be removed. That is why we give security of tenure so that you will have the courage no matter who appointed you to give judgement according to your conscience. That is what our judges should do. They must rise to the occasion,” Mahama stressed.