Former Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, is calling on the Government to strengthen the court system rather than what he describes as the setting up of a second system of justice.
He has therefore urged President John Dramani Mahama to withhold the assent to the Public Tribunals Bill, 2026, recently passed by Parliament.
Dr. Bawumia says the composition of the tribunals may thwart justice since some of those that would be appointed may not posses legal background, making inferences of excess from the tribunal in the PNDC era.
The former Vice President, addressing the nation on Sunday, July 19, 2026, asked the President to let history guide his current actions.
“Consider, finally, history. Under this Bill, panels that include persons who are not lawyers may sit in judgment over criminal matters. Ghanaians remember tribunals, and we remember what was done in their name.”
He appealed to the President to make the existing system stronger, instead of reintroducing the tribunals.
“Our courts are congested, yes. But the answer to congested courts is to strengthen the courts: more judges, more courtrooms and digitised processes. It is not to build a second system of justice beside the one the Constitution already gives us,” he noted.
The flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) further advised the President not to let his party’s overwhelming majority in Parliament clout his judgement on the possible ramifications of the tribunals.
“Mr. President, your government commands one of the largest majorities in the history of the Fourth Republic. With such numbers, Parliament can pass almost any bill it wishes. Not everything that can be passed should be passed.
“The larger the majority, the greater the duty of restraint. History will not ask how many votes a law received. It will ask whether the law reflected the best desires of a broad section of the Ghanaian society,” he added.
Dr. Bawumia called on the President not to assent to the bill and make broad stakeholder consultations, considering the enormity of the legislation in Ghana’s democracy.
Public Tribunals Bill 2026: ‘Mr. President, don’t assent to this’ – Bawumia urges Mahama
