CJ's suspension: Allow the process to continue – ACUC slams GBA

The AfriKan Continental Union Consult (ACUC), a think-tank on African good governance, has called on the Ghana Bar Association (GBA) to allow the legal process on the petition to remove the Chief Justice to continue.

The GBA, in a resolution, called for the revocation of the suspension of Chief Justice Gertrude Esaaba Torkonoo by President John Dramani Mahama, following the establishment of a prima facie case against her by the Council of State.

The GBA is also, among other things, calling for a reversal of the Acting Chief Justice, Justice Baffoe-Bonnie’s, decision on court case assignments.

Dr. Benjamin Anyagre Aziginaateeg, the Chief Executive Officer of the ACUC, told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) that the GBA must respect the rule of law and allow the process to continue instead of being seen as truncating an already initiated process.

Dr. Aziginaateeg added that “the law ought to benefit the growth of a good governance system. That is what all lawyers and courts should aspire to do, instead of being seen as truncating an already initiated process to perhaps help straighten the judiciary system perceived to have lost faith in the eyes of the public.”

He added that the acting chief justice should also not be ambushed to pursue what he sees as a move to attract public good will for the judiciary, which is perceived to be partisan driven.

He noted that the acting chief justice has been offered a duty to steer the affairs of the courts in Ghana and must therefore be allowed to do his work without interference, but rather should be allowed to do his work and do so with his intention to make the judiciary attractive, embraced, and highly revered.

According to him, the existence of law in its deep sense of jurisprudence is to straighten human behaviours by righting a wrong which defines good governance.

“Law is positioned to seek the well-being and welfare of society. It therefore frowns on its tools to suppress, intimidate, frighten, bully, bloat egos and so forth,” he said, recalling how conflicts were solved amicably in Africa in the past.

He asserted that the currently non-indigenous democratic impositions seemingly introduced an angle of law to serve the privileged elite class, to cover mal-stewardship accountability and create a path of escape for allegedly corrupt past officers of the state without being held accountable, considered as law applied in bad taste.”

Dr. Aziginaateeg further stated that Ghana, as a republic in its current state, needed institutions re-engineering to be healthy and deliver impartial, responsible duties hinged on the practice of good law.

He indicated that non-governmental organisations and civil society organisations have a duty to contribute to good governance, which must not be influenced by partisan interests to ensure that they critically consider the attitude, behaviour and knowledge of an officer when he or she served the state.

“A respectable NGO like the GBA has no right to give directives to a decision taken by a constitutional body called the Council of State regarding a person with an instructive directive to act on a matter assigned to the Executive. Once an issue begins to emerge, no matter who is affected, especially when no one is above the law, the process must be allowed to take its course till closure,” Dr. Aziginaateeg added.

GNA