Francis Xavier Sosu
The Association of Magistrates and Judges of Ghana ((AMJG) says it is lodging a formal complaint with the General Legal Council against Member of Parliament for Madina, Francis Xavier Sosu, for his “reckless” claim that some judges in Ghana are political judges.
The Association in a statement signed by its President, Justice Henry Kwofie, says it finds the allegation to be “unfortunate and misguided” coming from an MP and a lawyer who should know better.
The MP during an interview with some media houses at the demonstration against the implementation of the Electronic Transaction Levy (E-Levy) had claimed that certain judges in the country who he described as ‘political judges’ will be dealt with politically when there is change in government.
He threatened that such judges would lose their job when the political regimes whose bidding such judges do are no longer in power.
The statement was condemned by the Ghana Bar Association (GBA) which described it as “ignorant” and “irresponsible”, with the possibility of courting disaffection for the judges and exposing them to danger.
The Association of Magistrates and Judges of Ghana ((AMJG) has also condemned the allegation which it says was deliberate and calculated to court disaffection for the Judiciary.
“The Association considers this statement of Honourable Sosu as deliberate and calculated to create disaffection against the Judiciary and an attempt to scandalize the Judiciary and we condemn the said statement in no uncertain terms”, the AMJG said in a statement.
The statement continued that Judges do not determine which cases are filed or put before them for hearing and considers the MP’s statement as an attempt to intimidate Judges who are doing nothing other than their normal work.
“The Association takes a serious view of the statement of Honourable Sosu and considers it very unprofessional from a lawyer and an unprovoked attack on the Judiciary”, the statement said.
It continued that “Having regard to the seriousness which the AMJG takes this statement and its potential to do undue damage to the image of the Judiciary, the Association is lodging a formal complaint against Honourable Sosu to the General Legal Council immediately for his unprofessional statement and utterances which have the potential to tarnish the image of the Judiciary as a whole.”
The Association in its statements also queried the MP as to “(a) Who is a political Judge? (b) Who determines who is a political Judge and by what criteria is the determination made?, (c) Who are the so-called political Judges?”
BY Gibril Abdul Razak