A former and highly respected Justice of the Supreme Court of Ghana, William Atuguba, has recounted an episode from his career when he found himself off the Bench for a duration of six months due to his dissenting stance against a government decision.
Under the leadership of a Chief Justice at that time, Justice Atuguba recollected that he had expressed a solo dissenting opinion in a case related to Tsatsu Tsikata v The Republic. This dissenting opinion led to his suspension by the head of the judiciary at the time.
Remarkably, this incident transpired when Justice Atuguba held the most senior position on the Bench.
He recalled these events during his address at a public lecture organized by Solidare Ghana and the Department of Political Science at the University of Ghana.
Justice Atuguba emphasized that his intention was solely to ensure that the proper legal procedures were adhered to in a case concerning the alleged unfair termination of a colleague’s tenure on the Supreme Court Bench.
“Despite the clear provisions of article 146, a very knowledgeable chief justice of Ghana wrote on two occasions to a justice of the supreme court terminating his tenure as a supreme court judge on the ground of ill health without complying with the said article 146. On being shown the letters by the judge concerned I strongly exhorted him to reply them raising the contravention of article 146. The same chief justice indirectly suspended me for 6 months by not empanelling me on any case immediately after I maintained my solo dissent in Tsatsu Tsikata v. The Republic when it came up for review by the Supreme Court.
“Before I curtail this issue, the same Chief Justice sidelined me as the then realistic most senior justice of the Supreme Court contrary to article 144 (6) who should act as the Chief Justice in his absence. I felt that since the Supreme Court is the custodian of the constitution, I could not condone its infractions. I therefore assumed the functions of the Chief Justice with clearance from the then most senior justice who was then very seriously indisposed and handicapped until I got to know from him very shortly afterwards that he had become fit enough to act as Chief Justice upon the death of the then incumbent Chief Justice. It is this event which led Kweku Baako, a very prominent journalist, to state on a radio program that in the bid for the post of Chief Justice, I declared myself as the acting Chief Justice, but when the said most senior justice of the supreme court got wind of it, he said ‘You lie, I can act.’ When I heard that allegation I was gravely hurt since I have never in my life made any move to be appointed the Chief Justice of Ghana because I consider lobbying for a position as a corrupt act since it involves compromising one’s conscience,” he stated.
The public forum was on the theme, “Protecting Ghana’s Democracy: The Role of the Judiciary.”