Former Gomoa West MP and legal practitioner, Alexander Abban, has warned that Ghana risks undermining the independence of its judiciary if recent developments surrounding the appointment of a new Chief Justice are not handled carefully.
Speaking on the Asaase Breakfast Show on Tuesday (11 November), Abban cautioned that the executive’s growing influence over judicial processes could erode democratic checks and balances.
“If we do not take care, we are actually going to subject the independence of the judiciary under the controlling arm of the executive. And if it gets there, it means that our democracy is finished,” he said.
He backed the minority’s concerns in Parliament regarding what they described as a “travesty of justice” in the removal of former Chief Justice Gertrude Torkornoo, saying their protest was not unfounded.
“We should not condemn the minority so much,” he said. “The judiciary itself allowed some of its members to be used by the executive to orchestrate the removal of Justice Torkornoo. The fact that her removal seems to have benefited Justice Bartholomew is what is leading the minority to lament — and we should not brush it aside.”
Abban referenced precedents in U.S. judicial history, including Marbury v. Madison, to argue that courts elsewhere had fought to strengthen their independence, while Ghana’s judiciary appeared to be “weakening itself from within.”
He described the process leading to Justice Torkornoo’s removal as “a travesty of justice,” adding that the minority’s use of the phrase in Parliament was justified.
“What was done to Justice Torkornoo is a travesty of justice,” he said. “And so the minority’s use of that expression was founded.”
On whether Parliament should proceed with vetting a new Chief Justice while cases on the removal are still before the courts, Abban said although it would be prudent to await judicial determination, the administrative work of the judiciary must continue.
“There is an acting Chief Justice,” he noted. “For how long should he be acting? Let the process of nomination and vetting go on, and let the courts also do their business. If it’s later confirmed that the removal was unlawful, then we’ll know what to do.”
He, however, lamented what he described as the judiciary’s loss of institutional independence and moral courage.
“Power is sweet,” he remarked. “When you give someone who doesn’t deserve power and you legitimize it, you entrench them. Unfortunately, some of our justices have made it easier for the executive to control the judiciary.”
Abban concluded by calling for reforms in the constitutional process of appointing judges to ensure that competence, not partisanship, guides appointments to the bench.
“Going forward, if the constitutional review process is anything to rely on, then the process of appointment itself must be changed,” he said. “Only then can we appoint persons based on competence rather than politics.”
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