Anthony Forson, a former president of the Ghana Bar Association, GBA, has lamented the political coloration assigned especially to Justices of the Supreme Court.
Forson, citing the individual quality of the current panel stated that it was hurting that a perception was out there seeking to paint the Justices with political colours.
“It is very worrying because if an application is put before a panel of 28 judges and the application is unmeritorious, it will be 28-0,” he said in response to concerns about recent unanimous decisions by the apex court.
“Unfortunately, it is perception, that how come a series of applications were returned with a similar margin. You will have to look at the fact and evidence put before the judges. I know the judges individually, they are of good quality, so it hurts me that they are put in that jacket.
He continued: “Indeed, the President [Akufo-Addo] himself, in one of the clips when he was interviewed about judges, he said when people go to the Supreme Court to discuss issue of constitutional propriety and legal propriety, so it is sad that people should think that a person trained in the laws who has risen to that level will abandon his law because somebody appointed him.
For him, it was difficult to grasp the accusation against the Justices because they have a responsibility to discharge and it is bound to favour one party to any case.
“I find it difficult to understand why some people come to that conclusion. In any case, when a matter is put before a judge, he either rules this way or that way, there is no way that we will have a draw.”
He was speaking to journalists on the sidelines of the 40th anniversary of the Martyrs’ Day celebration.
The day is set aside to commemorate the gruesome murder of three High Court judges.
Justice Cecilia Koranteng-Addow and the other two murdered justices are remembered in an annual judicial service on the anniversary of their deaths, called Martyrs Day, in Ghana.
The Memorial to the Martyrs of the Rule of Law, which includes statues of all three murdered justices, stands in front of the Supreme Court of Ghana buildings today.
ghanaweb.com