Politicians and attorneys alike have been warned by Chief Justice Kwasi Anin-Yeboah to use caution while speaking out against the judiciary.
Speaking on September 12 at the 2022/2023 Ghana Bar Association Annual General Conference in Ho, he cited the 1982 brutal murder of three High Court judges as evidence that words should be chosen carefully.
In remarks delivered on his behalf by Justice Jones Dotse (Jsc), the Chief Justice (CJ) criticized politicians for making statements that endanger judges.
“We in Ghana have had a chequered history. We have had three distinguished judges of the High Court abducted and killed. We celebrate this incident since it occurred.
“I have made sure if I am in the country, I always attend these functions. As lawyers, we should not make careless comments and remarks that will revisit the occurrences of 1982.
“I, therefore, entreat all of you to be very very circumspect in making very dangerous comments about the judiciary. I am not saying so because I am a judge because once you are in it, you are in it.
“But then comments from members of the bar and senior politicians should be such that we are not…judges are not put up for sale by those who want to cause commotion and confusion in the country,” Justice Jones Dotse stated.
On June 30, 1982, a day now known as Martyr’s Day, three High Court Judges and a retired army officer were assassinated in the open at the Bundase Military Range in the Accra Plains. The assassins had kidnapped them that evening.
Justice Fred Poku Sarkodie, Major Rtd., Mr. Justice Kwadwo Agyei Agyepong, and Mrs. Justice Cecilia Koranteng-Addo were the four. John Acquah.
John Dramani Mahama, a former president of Ghana, has recently expressed worry over a deterioration in public trust in the court.
According to him, restoring public confidence in the judiciary will just require the appointment of a new Chief Justice.
“There is therefore the urgent need for the Ghanaian Judiciary to work to win the trust and confidence of the citizenry and erase the widely held perception of hostility and political bias in legal proceedings at the highest courts of the land.
“Unfortunately, we have no hope that the current leadership of our judiciary can lead such a process of change. We can only hope that a new Chief Justice will lead a process to repair the broken image that our judiciary has acquired over the last few years,” Mahama stated during a forum for NDC attorneys on August 28.
Attorney General Godfred Dame has described the comments by Mahama as deplorable, coming from someone who has been a former president.