Ghanaian legal scholar Prof Kwaku Asare has cautioned Chief Justice Paul Baffoe-Bonnie against making public comments that could be interpreted as partisan political assessments, following his remarks about the performance of state institutions under the current administration.
Prof Asare said although he understood the sentiment behind the Chief Justice’s comments, the reference to “the past eight years” carried an unmistakable political meaning in Ghana’s political discourse.
He argued that such language, coming from the head of the Judiciary, could be interpreted as an assessment of one political administration against another and therefore risk undermining public confidence in judicial independence.
The Chief Justice, during a visit to the Minerals Income Investment Fund (MIIF) on Wednesday, September 2, praised the performance of MIIF and other state institutions.
Ghanaian legal scholar Prof Kwaku Asare has cautioned Chief Justice Paul Baffoe-Bonnie against making public comments that could be interpreted as partisan political assessments, following his remarks about the performance of state institutions under the current administration.
Prof Asare said although he understood the sentiment behind the Chief Justice’s comments, the reference to “the past eight years” carried an unmistakable political meaning in Ghana’s political discourse.
He argued that such language, coming from the head of the Judiciary, could be interpreted as an assessment of one political administration against another and therefore risk undermining public confidence in judicial independence.
The Chief Justice, during a visit to the Minerals Income Investment Fund (MIIF) on Wednesday, September 2, praised the performance of MIIF and other state institutions.
He said some of the developments he had witnessed had left him wondering what Ghana had been doing over the previous eight years.
“I must congratulate you. I mean, you have done marvellously well. See, because sometimes when we hear the things that you have done, the things that some organisations are doing now, we wonder; some of us keep wondering what really we have been doing in the past eight years,” Justice Baffoe-Bonnie said.
He made the comments after visiting the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT), where he said he had also been impressed by what he was told about the institution’s performance.
Comparing the situation to previous plans to dispose of some SSNIT assets, including Labadi Beach Hotel, the Chief Justice said: “If you compare that to the fact that not too long ago, SSNIT was preparing to sell its prized assets like Labadi Beach Hotel, you wonder how Ghana could have sunk so low.”
Prof Asare said the expectation of judicial restraint should complement demands on politicians to respect the independence of the Judiciary.
“We rightly insist that politicians respect judicial independence and stay out of the judicial arena. The obligation is reciprocal,” he said.
“Judges, particularly the Chief Justice, must also exercise the restraint necessary to stay out of the partisan political arena.”
