Source: newsthemegh.com/By Manasseh Azure Awuni
Dear Ghana Bar Association (GBA),
I have read on myjoyonline that the GBA says the Special Prosecutor should have exhausted the entire legal process before calling a press conference.
Expressing his frustrations with the judiciary at a press conference does not take away the right of the Special Prosecutor to appeal decisions of the lower courts. And the Special Prosecutor’s frustration is not on only one case.
The people of Ghana, whom you call a court of public opinion, are the custodians of the power the judiciary exercises. If the Special Prosecutor, an officer appointed to fight corruption on behalf of the people, feels some judges are using the power of the people to impede that fight, it is within his right to let the people of Ghana know.
You sound as though the appellate courts are sacrosanct. The Supreme Court handed the former Auditor General, Daniel Domelevo, a raw deal in his fight against corruption. The Special Prosecutor is also complaining, and you should be worried. If the attitude of the courts is becoming a disturbing rhythm, allow people to be critical.
The judiciary remains the only leg of our wobbly democracy. Criticism of that hallowed institution must not always be taken to mean an attack, as you have often seemed to portray. Criticism is an important guardrail against the arbitrary exercise of power by the judiciary, an institution that has been given the power to play God.
If the GBA truly cares about the image of the judiciary, jumping to its defence every time legitimate concerns are raised about the judiciary’s conduct is not a helpful approach. You’re only helping the institution in its dangerous path to self-immolation.
In this instance, you should be more concerned about the concerns raised by the Special Prosecutor than suggesting that he should have shut up.
Some of us are young, but we have read and heard that the Ghana Bar Association used to be a serious watchdog that fought against oppressive regimes when it was neither safe nor expedient to do so.
And I hope you know more about the glorious days of your association than I do. The GBA did not find itself in the noble pages of our nation’s history by being the spokesperson of the judiciary, even when the judiciary appears to working against the interest of the people.
Humbly submitted,
Manasseh Azure Awuni, a concerned Ghanaian.