A former president of the Ghana Bar Association (GBA), Samuel Awuku Okudzeto, has said litigants are in no position to decide which judge presides over their case.
In an interview on Wednesday, September 21, Mr Okudzeto argued that because a judge serves as an impartial third party who seeks to resolve conflicts between two opposing sides, any attempt to remove a judge handling a specific case must be supported by convincing evidence.
“The judge is a neutral arbiter, so, unless you have evidence, then you can appeal to the chief justice,” he added.
However, he explained that in circumstances where individuals are dissatisfied with judges apportioned to them due to their biassed nature et al., such persons have the right to consult the Chief Justice for a change.
“If I have a corruption allegation against a judge, then I can go to the process, get the evidence, and then make a complaint against the judge. If I feel the judge is biased, I have the right to complain to the Chief Justice…. that the matter should be given to somebody else,” he said.
“When doing that, you must be careful, since you don’t have the right to choose a judge that you want to hear your case. In Ghana, we seem to think that I don’t like this judge, so I want the case to be held by another judge,” he stressed.
His comments follow criticisms of Ghana’s judicial system, which some have characterised as “tin gods” to wit, pompous, since some claim the decisions they make are binding.
In response, the lawyer claimed that the accusers do not have a comprehensive understanding of the legal system.
“It is a complete misunderstanding of the judiciary process, you can disagree with judgment. I disagree with judges. Let’s not use the word (judiciary). Judiciary is an institution, the entire court system with different people with different temperament etc,” he emphasized.
Attacks on Ghana’s judiciary are a challenge to the judicial body, the Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, Godfred Yeboah Dame, recently stated while speaking to lawyers at the Ghana Bar Association Annual Conference in Ho on September 12.
Mr Dame asserted that the unfounded comments harm the judiciary’s credibility, endangering the safety and welfare of the country.
“It was a great dismay and embarrassment that I heard a person who has occupied the highest office of state, that is the former President, recently launched an unwarranted attack on the integrity of Ghana’s Judiciary. I observe that this was the latest instalment of systematic attack by the former President, albeit unjustified,” he added.
The Attorney General’s statement was at the back of ex-president John Dramani Mahama’s remarks.
The former president, who was addressing the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Lawyers’ Conference earlier this month, demanded that the country’s judiciary be replaced in order to restore what he called the institution’s damaged reputation.
He alleged that the judiciary today is in such disrepair that the average Ghanaian no longer has confidence in it, hence the need for a new Chief of Justice.
“So badly has the image of our Judiciary deteriorated that many of our citizenry openly make a mockery of our justice system and of our justices. The phrase ‘Go to Court’ is these days met with derisive laughter, instead of hope that one will truly get justice.”
“There is therefore the urgent need for the Ghanaian judiciary to work to win the trust and confidence of the citizenry, and erase the widely held perception of hostility and political bias in legal proceedings at the highest courts of the land”, the former President suggested.
Continuously, he said “Unfortunately, we have no hope that the current leadership of our Judiciary can lead such a process of change. We can only hope that a new Chief Justice will lead the process to repair the broken image that our judiciary has acquired over the last few years.”
Source: The Independent Ghana