Justice William Atuguba
We are not very worried when political actors decide to bastardise the independence of the judiciary.
We are, however, disturbed when officers of the court, especially the legal brains attempt to drag the name of judges into the mud.
It was very distressing to hear someone like Justice William Atuguba, who at one stage relished the opportunity to lead the judiciary as the Chief Justice, take the justices to the cleaners for certain decisions they took, relating to Gyakye Quayson.
For Justice Atuguba to describe the decision of the justices as scandalous, exposes a certain limitation of the total appreciation of the law by the once revered judge.
His proclamations since he came to the limelight give him out as someone who is sulking over a certain disappointment ever since he missed the Chief Justice position to become the fourth most important person in Ghana.
Since then, people like him and the Dormaahene do not care about the independence of the judiciary and have left no opportunity to smear and destroy the reputation and sanctity of the rulings of the apex court.
We advise Justice Atuguba not to damage the purity and integrity of the judiciary as the only bastion against arbitrariness in the society. That is why we find it odd for Justice Atuguba to postulate that the Supreme Court justices erred by entertaining an election petition.
What his position meant is that he did not read the issues that were placed before the apex court. If anything at all, the people of Ghana are outraged that Justice Atuguba would attempt to sully the good name of our justices.
We urge all to join hands to insulate our judges from the highly partisan nature of our national conversation.
We are of the view that Justice Atuguba has never forgiven the NPP government for by- passing him as the most senior judge to appoint his junior as the Chief Justice, and has since not hidden his frustration. Thus, he has not missed the opportunity to paint the picture of gloom and doom in the delivery of justice.
We concede challenges in all spheres of national development, but all is not lost in our quest to build a just and peaceful country.
It is taking Justice Atuguba too many years to let go the pain he suffered during his career, especially as a Catholic who believes in forgiveness.
We leave Justice Atuguba as a devout Catholic to let go his pain and indeed his bitterness against the NPP by living the Biblical injunction on forgiveness.
In Matthew 6:14-15, Jesus admonishes us thus, “For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.” As a senior statesman, we urge Justice Atuguba to shed his NDC T-shirt and wear the national colours in order to be taken seriously anytime he engages us in a national discourse.
Unless he steps back, his critique would be pleasant in the ears of former President John Mahama and his NDC. But having served in that high office, Justice Atuguba’s actions should be above partisan politics.