The Judicial Secretary, Mr Musah Ahmed, has explained that the comments made by the Chief Justice, Justice Paul Baffoe-Bonnie, during his visit to some State institutions were made without malice.
This is contained in a press release dated September 4.
“The Chief Justice has taken note of the mixed public reaction to some observations he made recently on the performance of State-owned entities during an outreach engagement.
The observations were made in good faith, and were not intended to serve a purpose inimical to judicial independence,” Mr Ahmed wrote.
Justice Baffoe-Bonnie’s comments, made during his visit to the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) and Minerals Income and Investment Fund (MIIF), include, “looking at the recent performance of some of the State institutions, one wonders what we have been doing in the past eight years.”
This attracted severe criticism from members of the general public, civil society organisations and political parties. The New Patriotic Party (NPP), particularly called for the Chief Justice’s resignation.
In a statement signed by its General Secretary, Justin Kodua Frimpong, the NPP said “When the head of the Judiciary pledges his exertions to the success of the Executive’s agenda, what conclusion is an accused person standing in the dock, or indeed any citizen, to draw? A Chief Justice swears a single oath, and it is to the Constitution: to no President, no party and no agenda.
“The day he does otherwise, he ceases to be a judge and becomes an instrument of the very power he was appointed to check. We have already observed the extraordinary alacrity with which vacation warrants have been issued in special political cases involving members of the NPP.
The incarceration of Chairman Wontumi is evidence enough: justice in this Republic now proceeds at two speeds, remarkable haste for opponents of the government and serene leisure for its friends. In the considered view of the NPP, this is the agenda at work, the judicial machinery by which the President’s wish to see persons associated with the NPP imprisoned is being brought to pass.”
“We therefore demand that the Chief Justice immediately and unreservedly retract his partisan commentary and his vow of loyalty to the President’s agenda or, failing that, resign forthwith and formally join the NDC, whose cause he has chosen to champion from the Bench and that the President immediately fill the Council of State vacancy and publicly disavow any arrangement touching the Chief Justice’s post-retirement future,” the NPP demanded.
However, the Judicial Secretary assured that, “The Chief Justice remains committed to upholding the integrity and independence of the Judiciary, and the promotion of justice and equality before the law.”
