GBA Condemns Sosu’s “Treating Political Judges Politically” Comment
The Ghana Bar Association (GBA) has described as “unprofessional, unfortunate, irresponsible and distasteful”, Madina Member of Parliament, Francis Xavier Sosu’s comment that political judges will be treated politically upon his party’s assumption of power.
The lawyers association says the comment “smacks of deep-seated ignorance” and deems it as an attack on judges which has the propensity of creating disaffection and ill-will for judges and for that matter the judiciary.
“In the interview, Lawyer Francis Xavier Sosu seemed to have 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.”
The GBA also held that legal professional conduct and etiquette forbids a lawyer from making such statements.
“The GFA would like to caution 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. The GFA observes such ignorant and deliberate misinformation is gradually but steadily casting a slur on the appreciable gains that have been made in our democratic experiment as a nation. It is in light of this that the GBA views as unprofessional, irresponsible and totally out of place for a Lawyer to make utterances in the nature of those by Francis Xavier Sosu”, a statement from the group said.
It referenced Article 146(I) of Ghana’s constitution which says “A justice of the Superior Court or a Chairman of a Regional Tribunal shall not be removed from office except for stated misbehaviour or incompetence or on the ground of inability to perform the functions of his office arising from infirmity of body or mind”.
It will be recalled that the MP for Madina, also a lawyer, in a media interview during the “Yentua” demonstration cautioned judges wearing party colours underneath their cloaks to “repent”.
“If you are a judge, your fidelity is to the constitution of Ghana and the laws of Ghana. If you allow yourself to be used as a political judge so that you can do the bidding of the ruling government be warned, be warned because we are watching closely and in the event that there’s a change of power, every political judge will be fished out, every political judge will be dealt with politically”, he said,
Source: opemsuo.com/Hajara Fuseini
