The Ghana Bar Association (GBA) has described as unprofessional, unfortunate, irresponsible and distasteful and same smacks of deep-seated ignorance “political judges will be treated politically” comments by the Member of Parliament (MP) for Madina, lawyer Francis Xavier Sosu.
The Ghana Bar Association in a statement noted with disquiet and grave disappointment the assertion by lawyer Francis Xavier Sosu that some judges are “political judges”.
According to the GBA, the comments suggested that the tenure of office of judges is tied to the tenure of the political regime under which judges are appointed, and further that political judges will be treated politically.
“He also said that political judges would lose their offices when the political regimes whose bidding such judges do are no longer in power”.
In a statement, the GBA said it “finds the assertion by lawyer Francis Xavier Sosu very unprofessional, unfortunate, irresponsible and distasteful and same smacks of deep-seated ignorance, as the tenure of judges per the constitution, 1992, and other relevant laws, is never in any way whatsoever tied to the tenure of the political regime under which judges are appointed. Judges, unlike political office holders, are not that elected into office, hence it is reckless for anybody to give the slightest suggestion that the tenure of judges are linked to the tenure of the political regimes under which judges are appointed”.
The statement continued that “the legal profession (professional conduct and etiquette) rules, 2020 (L.I. 2423) forbids a lawyer from making a statement about judicial and legal officials which the lawyer knows to be false or with reckless disregard for its truth or falsity concerning the qualification and integrity of judicial and legal officials”.
It further quoted rule 52 of L.I. 2423 to buttress the unprofessional conduct of lawyer Sosu which provides that “a lawyer shall not make a statement which the lawyer knows to be false or with reckless disregard for its truth or falsity concerning the qualification or integrity of a judge, an adjudicative officer, a public legal officer or a candidate for election or appointment to a judicial office”.
“The GBA takes a dim view of the very unprofessional conduct of Francis Xavier Sosu Esq., and deems same as an unwarranted, unnecessary and unjustified attack on judges. These unwarranted attacks on judges have a high propensity of creating disaffection and ill-will for judges and for that matter the judiciary”. – the statement emphasized
The statement clarified that “the appointment and tenure of office of justices of the superior courts are provided for in articles 144, 145 and 146 of the constitution, in particular, article 146 states that “a justice of the superior court or a chairman of a regional tribunal shall not be removed from office except for stated behavior or incompetence or on grounds of inability to perform the functions of his office arising from infirmity of body or mind”.
The GBA also cautioned that “as a people we must be guided by our history. It was similar irresponsible and unguarded utterances in the past by people who ought to have known better that resulted in the abduction and gruesome murder of the three high court judges”.
It added that “the GBA observes that such ignorant and deliberate misinformation is gradually but steadily casting a slur on the appreciable gains that have been made in our democratic experiment a s a nation”.
