Chief Justice must exercise political restraint to protect judicial independence — Kwaku Azar
Legal practitioner and social commentator Professor Stephen Kwaku Asare, popularly known as Kwaku Azar, has urged Chief Justice Paul Baffoe Bonnie to exercise restraint in his public comments on the performance of governments.
According to Professor Asare, a recent comment by the Chief Justice that appears to compare the performance of the current administration with that of the previous government could create an impression of political bias.
The Chief Justice made the said remarks during a working visit to the Mineral Income Investment Fund (MIIF) on Wednesday, September 2, where he commended the institution for what he described as its improved performance.
“You have done marvellously well. Sometimes when we hear the things that you have done and the things that some organisations are doing now, we wonder what really we have been doing in the past eight years,” the Chief Justice said.
Reacting in a social media post on the same day, Professor Asare said while he understood the sentiment behind the comment, the reference to “the past eight years” carried an unmistakable partisan meaning in Ghana’s political discourse.
He said such language, particularly when coming from the head of the Judiciary, could be interpreted as an assessment of one political administration against another.
“The past eight years carries an unmistakable partisan meaning in our political discourse. Coming from the Chief Justice, it can therefore easily be understood, fairly or unfairly, as an assessment of one administration relative to another,” Professor Asare stated.
He argued that the Chief Justice’s public utterances carry the institutional weight of the Judiciary and must therefore be measured carefully.
Professor Asare noted that although judges remain citizens after assuming office, their judicial responsibilities require a higher level of restraint in their public speech.
He said the need for restraint is particularly important because cases could come before the courts involving decisions and actions of both the previous and current administrations.
According to him, no litigant should have reason to question whether the head of the Judiciary has formed a favourable or unfavourable view of a particular government.
“We rightly insist that politicians respect judicial independence and stay out of the judicial arena. The obligation is reciprocal,” he said.