Another Way of Snubbing The Judiciary

Chief Justice Georgina Wood

One of the several ways of eroding the authority of the judiciary was displayed last week when a President John Evans Atta Mills-chaired Cabinet snubbed a ruling of the Supreme Court of Ghana.

There could not have been a worse insult to the august arm of government than the one hurled by a law professor, especially when Ghanaians and the outside world, through their foreign missions, held their breath in anticipation of what government's reaction was going to be.

It was a vile testimony of a government whose disdain for the bench has never been in doubt. No wonder the statement issued regarding the controversial government bungalow became the subject of discussion in street side political gossips, soon after it was made.

Be that as it may, we are gladly guided by the lessons of the history of the executive flouting the authority of the judiciary and the consequences thereof in the relatively brief but chequered history of our country.

If Montesquieu's theory of Separation of Powers can suffer such an insult, our President has no justification in claiming to be an unequivocal adherent of the rule of law, not at all.

The court spoke and that is the law. We are glad though that those who tested the law the way they did listened to the judgment, even if they decided to trample upon it.

Going to court is better than the crude and inappropriate paths associated with the ruling party's leadership. It is unfortunate that the impression being created now is that when they do go to court and the judgment does not favour them, they throw it overboard, preferring to abide by it only if it is in their interest. That is not the law.

 The various governments from Nkrumah to the present have bought state lands in one way or the other. While all the previous governments put up buildings and favoured cronies, party colleagues and even family members in the distribution of same, we appear to be creating the erroneous impression that one particular regime is responsible for an outrageous transaction regarding state lands or even houses.

Kanda Estates, Dansoman Estates under Acheampong, Teshie/Nungua Estates, Ring Road, Labone and Adenta Flats have all come under challenges of distribution under successive governments.

As a people, we can do better by avoiding unnecessary bickering as major challenges of a floundering economy stare us in the face.

We are faced with the problem of limited resources and glaring economic challenges, leaving us with a situation where we try to measure the size of what our neighbours have got and to make fuss out of these.

Let the state genuinely facilitate the acquisition of land and most of the encumbrances facing us today would give way.

Estate developers should be supported by favourable policies to be innovative in the direction of providing many houses to many more Ghanaians.

There is so much hypocrisy among politicians. They cry foul but really, when they get the opportunity to be at the helm, they turn up the worst culprits. This country!