It's unfair to say the Supreme Court exists to do the bidding of the executive - Legal Practitioner

A private legal practitioner, Bobby Banson, has said that claiming that the judiciary, especially the Supreme Court, exists to do the bidding of the executive arm of government is unfair.

He indicated that such comments are problematic because the role of the Supreme Court to dispense justice is not limited to constitutional cases.

Critics have raised concerns about the appointment of judges under the current Akufo-Addo administration.

For instance, former President John Dramani Mahama while addressing a National Democratic Congress (NDC) annual lawyers conference on September 2, 2023 said President Akufo-Addo has appointed the highest number of judges in Ghana.

He said the court has been packed with NPP-inclined judges, “He has appointed the biggest number of judges onto the bench, it is more than 80 towards 100 and counting.

He has packed the court and we know they have packed the court because they want to avoid accountability after they have left office.”

Mr Mahama, therefore, urged the NDC lawyers to ready themselves for similar appointments when he ascends the presidency again.

President Akufo-Addo did not take these comments lightly after saying it is “extremely dangerous” to the independence of the judiciary.

At the 23rd Ghana Bar Association (GBA) Conference in Cape Coast on September 10 he said “I have gone into this matter in detail because of a new issue which has been introduced into our public discourse by no less a public figure than the fourth president of the fourth republic, John Dramani Mahama, who has told the world that I have packed the courts with so-called NPP judges and that one of the key purposes a putative NDC victory in 2024 will be to enable him to balance the courts with so-called NDC judges.”

“Not only are these concepts new in our public discourse but they are also extremely dangerous and represent the brazen attack on the independence of the judiciary by allegedly responsible politicians.”

Speaking on the Key Points on TV3 on Saturday, October 28 while commenting on the proposal by a former Justice of the Supreme Court William Atuguba for the appointment of judges to be looked at again, Mr Bobby Banson said “The Supreme Court does not only discharge politically inclined cases or case of constitutional interpretation.

The Supreme Court deals with appeals, they deal with cases of interpreting the constitution

“I do not even think that the so-called political cases that the SC engages in are up to 30 percent of the work of the Supreme Court.

and so to suggest or to always give the narrative as if the Supreme Court exists to do the so-called political ses or to a large extent the constitutional interpretation cases, I think it is a bit problematic because the role of the Supreme Court to dispense justice is not limited to those constitutional cases.

“The reason why I am saying this is that the politicians as we have it do not make up the majority of the populace of Ghana and so to say if the judiciary exists to do the bidding of the executive which is the political class is very unfair.”

Atuguba’s concerns

Mr Atuguba stated that appointments to the judiciary or any other governance institution must be made by thoroughly independent bodies based on nothing but merit and not on things like protocol, cronyism, ethnicity, or other improper considerations.

He said the governance institutions particularly the Judiciary must be realistically insulated against presidential and other political pressures.

Justice Atuguba recounted some of the concerns that have been raised against the judiciary.

“The current public image of the Judiciary in Ghana is reflected on Social Media,” he said while delivering a public lecture in Accra on Tuesday, October 24.

He added “In view of all this what matters most is the realistic auditing and restructuring of the Judiciary and indeed all other governmental institutions, because just as the cyanide of illegal mining galamsey has devastated our forest lands and poisoned our water bodies, so also has the cyanide of Political Corruption poisoned our Governance Institutions.

Appointments to the Judiciary or any other governance institution must be made by thoroughly independent bodies based on nothing but merit and not on things like protocol, cronysm, ethnicity, or other improper considerations.

“The governance institutions particularly the Judiciary must be realistically insulated against presidential and other political pressures.

Lawrence Appiah, has said that Ghanaians are losing confidence and hope in the ability of the Court to administer Justice in the country.

He accused the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government of appointing cronies to the Judiciary.

He emphasized that the Judiciary is packed with NPP inclined Judges because this government has carried out a deliberate policy of putting their people onto the bench to frustrate Ghanaians.

He further said, it will take a new leader like John Mahama in the next NDC administration to lead the process to repair what he describes as (badly dented image) of Ghana’s judiciary for people to win the trust in the system.

In his opinion, the deteriorated image of the Judiciary easily sparks laughter from the citizenry when one decides to go to the court for justice, adding that it is of the scariest  existential threats to any democracy when citizens think their judiciary holds no value for them or no use to them, and this is the security threat that the National Security apparatus tried to draw the attention of the nation to recently but was poorly received by the president.

He added that such lawlessness in the country threatens the peace and stability of Ghana’s democracy and must be quickly corrected (because) if pragmatic measures are not taken, it will get to a stage where people will have no qualms about taking the law into their own hands because they do not have the confidence that they can get any justice in the system.

Dr.

Gyakye Quayson, after he was elected by his constituents, that not only should he not be able to represent his constituents, they went further to order parliament to strike his name from parliament records as if he never entered parliament.

During the recently ended limited registration exercise by the Electoral Commission, the NDC and some Civil Society Organization filed a motion at the Supreme Court to stop the EC from conducting the exercise.