Don't Compromise Justice System - Chief Justice
The Chief Justice, Mrs Justice Georgina Theodora Wood, has called on Ghanaians not to compromise the country’s justice system.
She said as imperfect as the system was, a justice system grounded in the rule of law was better than its alternative.
Opening the 37th Conference of Rotary International District 9100 at the Accra International Conference Centre Friday, the Chief Justice said that did not mean that the Judiciary was above criticism.
She said the Judiciary, an institution clearly dependent on public funds to function, was accountable to the people of Ghana on whose behalf judicial power was administered.
“Indeed, one of the ways they are entitled to do so is through fair criticism. The borders of public domain regarding criticism of judicial conduct are fairly well established,” she stated.
The Chief Justice emphasised that what was not permitted was imputing ill motives to judges and making unsubstantiated and wild allegations against them.
That, she said, went beyond the bounds of decency and could amount to criminal or contemptuous conduct, adding, “More importantly, it erodes the respect and other gains the country has achieved in the sub-region, to the admiration of the international community.”
Mrs Justice Wood said Rotary’s best known motto, “Service above self”, and its secondary motto, “They profit most who serve best”, provided profound food for thought for all, particularly those in public service.
She said it was gratifying to note that Rotary International’s current foremost service project was the global eradication of polio, a project which all Rotarians were enjoined to work on, adding that poliomyelitis being one of the six killer diseases, had a debilitating effect on the growth and development of children.
She acknowledged with gratitude Rotary’s contribution to the Judicial Service of Ghana to enhance justice with the provision of billboards at court premises displaying conspicuously the well-known four-way test.
She said the Judicial Service was proud to be associated with Rotary in relation to that intervention which had proved extremely useful in justice matters.
The Governor of District 9100 of Rotary International, Mr Marvan Fattal, said Rotary was a world-wide organisation of more than 1.2 million businesses, professionals and community leaders who provide humanitarian service, encourage high ethical standards in all vocations and help build goodwill and peace in the world.
He said the movement arrived in the West African sub-region for the first time in Senegal in 1939.
He said it subsequently expanded to Cote d’Ivoire and Cameroon and entered English-speaking Ghana in 1958.