They Deny the Tag “Bomb Throwers” and “Economic Saboteurs,” But Still Unchanged

And so, the Bar Council of England and Wales, that most august relic of imperial governance, has spoken. Joined by the so-called Commonwealth Lawyers Association (CLA), a private club whose membership is as binding as a WhatsApp group chat, it has issued a communiqué in a tone more suited to a colonial district officer than to a 21st-century peer. It demands that President John Dramani Mahama and his government “immediately and without delay” reinstate the suspended and embattled Chief Justice, Her Ladyship Justice Gertrude A.E.S. Torkornoo. Not “urge.” Not “recommend.” No, just commanding. As if 6th March 1957 never happened.

Why should we be surprised? Indeed, why should we? Any student of Ghanaian history can trace the thread from 1956 to 2025 and see the same script, the same actors, the same sabotage, now dressed in wigs and Latin phrases, but still serving the same master: the empire that refuses to die.

Let us dissect this charade with the scalpel of history and the rigor of law.

First: Who exactly are these self-appointed guardians of Ghanaian justice? The Commonwealth Lawyers Association? A private body, registered as limited liability company in Companies House, led by one Mr. Steven Thiru of Malaysia, with no mandate, no jurisdiction, and certainly no constitutional authority over Ghana; a sovereign republic since 1957. It is a body one can join online, like a LinkedIn group for nostalgic colonial apologists. And yet, they dare to issue an ultimatum? To a nation that fought, bled, and voted for its independence?

The audacity is not just staggering, it is colonialism in a suit and tie.

Then we have the Bar Council of England and Wales, chaired by Madam Barbara Mills KC, a Ghanaian-British barrister whose parents brought her to the United Kingdom during the heats of the PNDC era. Let us be clear: the Bar Council represents barristers in England and Wales. Its authority does not extend to Scotland or Northern Ireland, yet they claim to speak for the entire Commonwealth? For Ghana? This is not legal advocacy; it is legal imperialism; the kind that once told us we were not ready for self-rule.

And let us not ignore the elephant in the room: the Ghana Bar Association (GBA), under Madam Afua Ghartey, issued a similar “ultimatum” less than two months ago. Is this a national legal consensus? Or is it a coordinated effort by a faction of the elite, steeped in the UP tradition, still waging the same ideological war their forefathers lost in 1957 to Dr. Kwame Nkrumah?

Ah, the UP tradition, that political lineage of perpetual opposition, born from the disappointed elite of the UGCC, who could not stomach the idea of a masses-led independence. They were the ones who, in 1956, sent Dr. Kofi Abrefa Busia to London to beg the British: “Why the rush to give us freedom?” In a letter to the UK Parliament, Dr. K. A, Busia wrote:

“The country is not ready for parliamentary democracy… we still need you in the Gold Coast. Your experiment there is not complete. Sometimes I wonder why you seem such in a hurry to wash your hands off us”

Not ready? Ghana was ready the moment the first slave ship left Elmina. But the UP elite feared what Dr. Nkrumah represented: a government of the people, by the people, for the people, not for the Oxford-educated few.

When they lost the political battle, they turned to sabotage.

They demanded federalism to fragment the nation.

They boycotted negotiations.
They made the country ungovernable.
And when words failed, they resorted to bombs.

Yes, bombs.
The explosion at Dr. Nkrumah’s New Town residence.

The shooting of Dr Nkrumah’s car heading towards Flagstaff House.

The Ametepe shooting on Dr Kwame Nkrumah while walking from his office at the Flagstaff House to have lunch.

The Kulungugu assassination attempt in 1962.
The Accra Sports Stadium bombing during a political rally.

The various explosions across Ghana, especially in Kumasi and attempted murder of Krobo Edusei.

The plot from Lome and Lagos hideouts, where Dr. Busia and Komla Gbedemah conspired with Western intelligence to overthrow the government.

They called Nkrumah a “deity”, believed to worship ‘Kankan Nyame’, and painted him as a dictator.

They accused him of harbouring Soviet troops, lies so potent that Cote D’Ivoire under Felix Houphouët-Boigny and his other pro-West African leaders opposed Dr. Nkrumah radical Pan-Afranism class towards OAU Summit in Accra, costing Ghana the OAU headquarters, which went to Addis Ababa, instead of Accra. They colluded with Western powers to crash cocoa prices, the lifeblood of Ghana’s economy, to cripple Nkrumah’s industrialization plans.

And what were those plans? Let us not forget: Nkrumah built over 80 major industries, from the Ghana Textile Factory to the Ghana Cement Factory. He built glass factory, Bonsa Tyre Factory, Abosso Glass, shoe factories, Jute factory, meat factory, tomato factory, the Atomic Energy Commission in 1963, and automotive assembly plants. He launched the Akosombo Dam, a marvel of engineering that powers the nation to this day. He set up Tema Oil Refinery, GIHOC, VALCO. GNTC and universities. Created Tema and build Tema and Takoradi Harbour, Ghana Airways, etc.

But the UP tradition, in bed with the West, undermined every effort. They slashed budgets. They blocked loans. They spread fear. And when Nkrumah was overthrown in 1966, they danced, not for Ghana, but for their own return to power.

And what did they build? Nothing. They dismantled. They privatized, and they imported.

Today, Ghana imports everything; cars, medicine, even bottled water, toothpicks, while Singapore, Malaysia, and South Korea, nations that were behind Ghana in 1960, now fly past us in jets we cannot manufacture.

Why?
Because they had visionaries. While we had saboteurs.

The UP tradition, in all its reincarnations; PP, PFP, & NPP factions, has no good intention for Ghana. They govern for themselves. Their power is not in policy, but in perpetual crisis. They thrive on chaos, not development.

And now, they return, not with bombs, but with press statements and foreign-backed ultimatums.

They want us to believe that foreign lawyers can dictate who should be Chief Justice in Ghana.

That a Malaysian president of a private club can lecture a sovereign nation on constitutional order.

Bazaar!
Ghanaians are no longer children to be scolded by the colonial master’s messengers.

We have lived through coups, SAPs, and IMF conditionalities.

We know the game.
The Akan proverb says: “sɛ aboa bi bɛka wo a, ɛfiri wo tɔma mu”; ‘the enemy that bites you comes from your own cloth’ And here they are, not with machetes, but with memos.

Not with dynamite, but with diplomacy. Still the same.

Let us now put on the legal robe. Neither the CLA nor the Bar Council has locus standi in Ghana’s constitutional order. The Bar Council’s writ ends at the English Channel. The CLA is a private association with no treaty power. To claim they can dictate Ghana’s judicial process is as absurd as the British National Trust ordering us to repaint Cape Coast Castle.

Our 1992 Constitution is clear. Article 146 is not a suggestion, it is law. Petitions were filed. The Council of State found a prima facie case. A committee chaired by a Supreme Court Justice was empanelled. Under Article 146(10)(a), the President suspended the Chief Justice pending inquiry. Due process, step by step. No executive overreach. No colonial oversight required.

So by what authority do foreign clubs presume to command? Is Ghana still a Crown Colony? Has our Constitution been smuggled as an appendix into the UK Parliament? Sovereignty is not a hire-purchase agreement. Aid and loans do not buy the right of veto. The gavel is Ghanaian, and it will remain so.

Let us be clear: Justice Torkornoo’s suspension is a matter for Ghana’s Constitution, not for London’s drawing rooms. If Justice Torkornoo has lost credibility, she should resign. If she has violated the law, let her face it. But the decision rests with Ghana, not with a Bar Council that cannot even govern its own pub licensing laws.

Ghana, the country sabotaged by the United Party Tradition

A nation that could have been a superpower, now begging for IMF loans.

Schools without books.
Hospitals without drugs.
Factories abandoned. We are fighting with bad road killing our people. These are more important to think about than reinstatement of Justice Gertrude A.E.S. Torkornoo. I wonder why she has still not resigned.

And still, they preach.
To the Bar Council, the CLA, and their allies in the GBA: Hell with you.

Ghana is not your colony.
Our judiciary is not your project.
Our future is not your bargaining chip.
As the great Nkrumah said: “Ghana’s independence is meaningless unless it is linked to the total liberation of Africa.”

And I say: “Ghana’s sovereignty is worthless if we allow foreign lawyers to dictate our constitutional affairs.”

Ghana belongs to Ghanaians. And Africa, yes, the United States of Africa, will rise, not on the backs of colonial puppets, but on the blood of those who refused to kneel.

Let the record show:
We saw the bomb throwers.
We saw the saboteurs.
And we will not be fooled again.
By their fruits, you shall know them.
And their fruit is decay.
Written by:
Lewis Kwame Addo
Amsterdam

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