Godfred Yeboah Dame
The Attorney General and Minister for Justice, Godfred Yeboah Dame, has called on lawyers to prevent and condemn each and every act of illegal pressure on the Judiciary.
He has also urged them to be on guard against unscrupulous persons who undermine the independence of the Judiciary by tarnishing its image unjustifiably.
According to him, it is only then that the “purity, dignity and majesty of the courts will be upheld.”
“As I have said time and again, judges are often called upon to make decisions on some of the most difficult questions arising from the actions and conduct of persons in this country. They are decisions that very few of us would feel comfortable making,” he noted.
Mr. Dame was speaking at a swearing-in ceremony of new executives of the Ghana Bar Association (GBA) in Accra, led by its first female President – Mrs. Efua Ghartey.
The Attorney General, in a goodwill message, said no institution or individual in Ghana has sovereignty, and the constitution which is the supreme law of Ghana has vested the Judiciary with final judicial power.
“Every individual or institution, including the person who takes precedence over all in this country – the President – is subject to the courts’ powers to interpret and apply the laws of Ghana without question,” he stated.
He said this principle, observed in all civilised societies around the world, has nothing to do with the theories of independence of certain institutions and their procedures.
“We, therefore, have a duty to support the Judiciary in its work which is fundamental and crucial to the sustenance of Ghana’s democracy,” he said.
Mr. Dame decried what he described as falling standards in the practice of law, as a result of increase in the numbers of lawyers in the country.
“An increase in numbers always leads to concerns about maintenance of quality in our side of the universe. We are already witnessing a decline in standards of practice to worrying depths. Ethics is jettisoned in the dishonourable quest of some lawyers to win a case or score cheap political points especially,” he added.
He, therefore, indicated that the General Legal Council will be right in acting against lawyers who deliberately denigrate the Judiciary and thereby, endanger Ghana’s democracy with a firm fist.
He said the situation where lawyers propound false constitutional theories on radio, misconduct themselves in court and in public but the General Legal Council fails to apply the relevant sanctions, contributes to the erosion of respect for the legal profession, destruction of the integrity of the Judiciary and most importantly, the deterioration of the constitutional order of the country.
Women Representation
Mr. Dame was particularly happy that the GBA, since its formation in 1958, has elected its first ever female President and a female Vice President.
He said Mrs. Efua Ghartey’s election is symbolic in a sense that it came in a year in which the Parliament of Ghana, after enormous difficulty, passed the Affirmative Action Act, which was duly assented to by the President on July 30, 2024.
“As the head of a ministry, the Office of the Attorney General and Ministry of Justice, the composition of which has over ninety percent (90%) of all state attorneys being women, I can confidently vouch for the efficiency, industry and integrity of Ghanaian women,” he said.
Mr. Dame further stated that he had no doubts that the fine blend of experiences and rich profiles that the new executives have, will equip them sufficiently to discharge the demands of their duties and to win the hearts of the Bar, the Bench and the public.
He also used the occasion to acknowledge past executives of the GBA for their diverse contributions to the association.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak