An Open Letter To The Chief Justice Of Ghana, Mrs Georgina Theodora Woode

Dear Madam,

You may not know me although we have several mutual friends and acquaintances, but I am writing to you today, “Woman to woman” ala Shirley Brown, because of the outfit that you head as the first ever female Chief Justice of Ghana, and the depths to which your organisation has sunk. When I was a young lass growing up, Ghana’s judiciary was rated among the top in the Commonwealth, and certainly one of the best in Africa. Ghana has contributed justices to other African countries like Kenya, Gambia and lately the Caribbean and even the International Court of Justice, otherwise known as the World Court.

Unfortunately, the judiciary as it stands today, has been tainted by the politics of Ghana and it seems rotten to the core. If you had any doubts about that fact, this latest exposé by the ace investigator Anas Armeyaw Anas should dispel any such doubts. It cannot get any worse anywhere in the world, not even in Africa. For people who have sworn oaths to do justice to all who appear before them to sell justice to the highest bidder as the investigation seems to have conclusively determined, is beyond gross, as my American friends will put it.

Undoubtedly, the judiciary system of Ghana has been bad for some time, and it certainly did not start with your leadership. However, there is no doubt whatsoever that it has been growing worse every single day since you assumed headship of that august institution. Directly or indirectly you have been responsible for the current state of Ghana’s judiciary and you are not doing yourself, your family, the people of Ghana and the ‘Sisterhood of Women’ any favours by pretending or refusing to acknowledge that our judiciary is rotten to the core and not fit for purpose!

You may remember that not long after you assumed office, a lawyer and a relative of one of your most senior judges proclaimed to the whole world that “Ghana’s judiciary was corrupt and that judges took bribes all the time.” What did you do about that? Absolutely nothing! Secondly, there was a lot of ungentlemanly and definitely unscholarly misbehaviour by lawyers at the now world-famous 2012 Election Petition Hearing. Again your attitude was one of “see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil”.

The handling of the whole process by Justice Atuguba who at one point proclaimed that, “If one lawyer had misbehaved and another had responded in kind, it was one draw,” was nothing to write home about. As for his delivery of the judgement and events immediately before it, I am certain that we did much better at the debating society back in my secondary school in Ghana! Not surprisingly, my American friends likened the whole spectacle to something lower than a second year law school discussion class at a second-rate law school in America; and they were right.

When Victoria Hammah was recorded bragging in her official vehicle that another minister had “gone to see the judges to rule the case in our favour”, that was another golden opportunity not only to look into that historic case, but the judiciary in general. Again you let that fine opportunity slip through your fingers.

The recent rather bizarre Charles Antwi “attempted assassination” matter was another scandalous case that brought Ghana’s judiciary into disrepute. An ordinary countryside ‘Joe Bloke’ walks into a court room and declares that he wanted to “kill the president and take over his job” and within forty-eight hours is committed to an outrageous ten year prison term without so much as a medical officer “taking his temperature”. This obviously clueless judge then defends his action as being right because the man walked into the court room all by himself and decided to defend himself. But for a public-spirited private legal practitioner, this fellow citizen who obviously needs psychiatric help, would be languishing in jail. And even as I write, the man is still in jail notwithstanding a superior court has ruled that he be released and given professional psychiatric attention.

And now this bribery scandal! Wednesday, 9^th September 2015 has become a day of great shame for every Ghanaian living everywhere on planet Earth. Even in darkest Africa, it is not common for such a large number of members of a nation’s judiciary to be caught red-handed selling justice in such a crude way. This case is really the pits for you and every member of your team. As it stands today, our judiciary is worse than the lowest village “Odikurow court” in Ghana.

Suggestion

Woman to woman, I suggest that you use this bribery scandal to conduct a major cleansing of the whole judiciary system, and you should begin this antiseptic cleaning immediately. Those 34 judges that have been fingered in the investigations should be suspended indefinitely without pay. Their remunerations and other allowances should be used to set up a high level independent committee to investigate all the judgements, activities and decisions made by the thirty-four judges, court clerks and other workers in your outfit over the past ten years, with a view to righting the wrongs that they have perpetrated on some of our unfortunate compatriots.

The committee should be made up of retired judges (none of the ones that have retired over the past seven years), former senior police officers, clergymen and civil servants. The committee should have the powers to look into the bank accounts, movable and immovable properties of those involved, and what they did by way of property acquisition and travel immediately before Mr Anas’ investigation. For it is morally repugnant for two individuals that have been arrested and lawfully charged with armed robbery for instance, to remain in custody, then one walks free because he has the ill-gotten means to buy his freedom.

The investigation panel should ask for written and oral representations from individuals, organisations and relatives of those who have been so badly let down by the judiciary over the years, even if they have since passed away.

Those members of the judiciary who are found to have abused their positions in society should be prosecuted and jailed to serve as examples to all those who think the judiciary is a gold mine for the corrupt acquisition of wealth and peddling of influence. As a further part of the cleansing, every judge in Ghana, from the lowest court magistrate to the Appeals Court judge who has been at one station for more than two years must be transferred. A policy must subsequently be established whereby no judge or magistrate will stay at the same location for more than five years.

There are so many young girls in Ghana and beyond who have been so excited by your appointment they are aspiring against all odds in some cases, to emulate your achievement. Unfortunately, your performance so far, is becoming an obstacle to those aspirations for these poor girls and their loved ones.

Please, please and please again, do not go down in history as the first and only female Chief Justice of Ghana who drove the final nail into the coffin of Ghana’s judiciary!

As you know, stars shine brightest at night. You now have a splendid opportunity to rise up as a courageous and fearless woman, and transform the entire judiciary of our dear country. In so doing, you will enshrine your deathless name upon the tongues of Ghanaians, and posterity will weave and twine their praise, gratitude and admiration about your memory for your monumental work of cleaning up Ghana’s stinking third arm of government. Would you accept this impressive challenge?

I shall return, God willing, with my beaded gourd!

Naana Ekua Eyaaba has an overarching interest in the development of the African continent and Black issues in general. Having travelled extensively through Africa, the Black communities of the East Coast of the United States as well as London and Leeds (United Kingdom), she enjoys reading, and writes when she is irritated, and edits when she is calm. You can email her at [email protected] , or read her blog at https://naanaekuaeyaaba.wordpress.com/.