An Open Letter To The Leadership Of The Ghana Bar Association

From: The Senior Citizens of the Republic of Ghana
To: The National Executive Committee, Ghana Bar Association (GBA)
Subject: A Word of Advice and a Call for Institutional Repentance

We write to you not merely as spectators of Ghana’s democratic journey, but as the generational custodians who bled, sacrificed, and labored to construct the peace we enjoy today. As senior citizens, our bones carry the heavy memory of Ghana's turbulent history. We lived through the coups, we witnessed the erosion of state institutions, and we watched the courageous lawyers of old stand as a shield for the vulnerable. It is with deep pain, therefore, that we watch the modern Ghana Bar Association (GBA) descend from being the moral conscience of our Republic into an arena for low-level partisan warfare. To use the timeless wisdom of Hon. A.B.A. Fuseini, “When pepper settles on the forehead of a person, it is a sign of danger to the eyes”. The current partisan posturing of the Bar leadership is that pepper, and it is blinding the eyes of Ghanaian justice.

The Original Sin: The 1991–1992 Constitutional Boycott

Our grievance with your trajectory is not new; it is a pattern of behavior that traces back decades. We remember with precise clarity when the GBA chose political obstinacy over national duty by boycotting the Consultative Assembly that drafted the 1992 Constitution.

• The Vanished Giants of the Bar: When we look at you today, we ask: where is the spirit of William Ofori-Atta (Pa Willie)? Where is the unyielding legal courage of Sam Okudzeto, or the principled institutional grit of Mr. J.B. da Rocha and Peter Ala Adjetey? These were men who led the GBA in the 1970s and 1980s. They did not weaponize the Bar for pedestrian political point-scoring; they used jurisprudence as a shield to guard the citizenry from tyranny.
• The Price of Self-Exclusion: By walking away from the Consultative Assembly because you objected to its composition, you abandoned your post. To quote the French philosopher Voltaire, “No problem can withstand the assault of sustained thinking.” Yet, instead of sustaining the intellectual fight inside the room, you left.
• Would the Constitution Have Been Different? Yes. Had the "community of reading men and women" taken their seats alongside the drafting committees, perhaps we would not be saddled with an executive presidency that holds a near-monopoly over judicial appointments. Perhaps our transitional provisions would not protect institutional impunity, and perhaps the separation of powers would be more rigidly defined. By refusing to write the law, you allowed others to shape the supreme law of the land, leaving Ghana to fix the structural loopholes you left behind.
• The Proverbial Consequence: As A.B.A. Fuseini rightly states, “A man who can't carry his load blames his headpan”. For years, the Bar has criticized the structural weaknesses of the 1992 Constitution, forgetting that it was your own institutional cowardice and self-exclusion that left the headpan deformed in the first place.

The Modern Rot: Selective Outrage and Partisan Capture

Your historical pattern of selective engagement has now matured into absolute partisan capture. When the leadership of the Bar reduces the apex of our judiciary to cheap party labels, you are no longer practicing law—you are playing dirty politics.

• A House Divided: The senior citizens of this country are not blind. We see how the Bar moves with lightning speed to issue resolutions when certain elite political interests are threatened, yet becomes completely paralyzed when the environment is ravaged by galamsey, or when ordinary citizens face systemic human rights abuses.
• The Wisdom of the Sages: In the words of A.B.A. Fuseini, “When you see a pregnant goat in the market, a pregnant matter took it there”. The current agitations to break your monopoly and form alternative bar associations—like the Law Society of Ghana—are not random. A deep, unaddressed institutional corruption has brought this crisis to your doorstep. If a thief kisses you on the cheek, you must count your teeth to make sure they are still intact. Ghanaians are counting their democratic teeth, and we are finding many missing under your watch.
• The Global Standard: International legal jurisprudence dictates that a Bar must remain independent of the executive. The United Nations Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers explicitly mandates that professional associations must cooperate with the government without compromising their integrity. Today, your leadership shares closer ties to political dining tables than to the text of the Constitution.

Word of Advice to the GBA Leadership

As your elders, we leave you with these non-negotiable truths to ponder before the legal profession fractures beyond repair:

• Remember Your Ancestors: The GBA belongs to the legacy of the martyrs who were murdered in 1982 for defending the rule of law. It does not belong to any political party, marital alignment, or executive cabal.
• Purge the Pedestrian Renditions: The language of the Bar must return to rigorous jurisprudence. Bypassing Article 146 constitutional procedures to launch verbal, partisan assaults against judicial officers at public conferences degrades the legal robes you wear.
• Welcome Competition: Do not fight the emergence of alternative legal societies. If you refuse to reform, the market of justice will diversify without you. “A short man will never thank God for his height unless the day he sees a dwarf”. Let competition show you how far you have fallen.

A Powerful Prayer for a Change of Heart

Let us bow our heads in reflection, drawing from the infallible words of Ezekiel 36:26: “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.”

Almighty God, and Creator of the Universe,
We bring the leadership of the Ghana Bar Association before Your throne of grace. We pray for a profound, supernatural circumcision of their hearts. Wash away the spirit of selective moral blindness and partisan greed that has corrupted their ranks. Forgive them for the historical eras where they walked away from shaping this nation, and forgive them for how they now trade their birthright for political appointments.

Open their eyes to see that the destiny of millions of ordinary Ghanaians rests on the integrity of their scales. Grant the President and the executives the humility to realize that when a leader charts a crooked path, they cannot see its bends without wise counsel. Turn their hearts of stone—hardened by political arrogance—into hearts of flesh that beat for justice, equity, and truth. Bring back the fear of God into our courts and our chambers, so that righteousness may flow like a mighty stream through the Republic of Ghana.
Amen.

✍️ Submitted by:
Retired Senior Citizen
For and on behalf of all Senior Citizens of the Republic of Ghana 🇬🇭
Teshie-Nungua, Accra
📧 [email protected]