Francis-Xavier Sosu
THE NATIONAL Democratic Congress (NDC) Member of Parliament (MP) for Madina, Francis-Xavier Sosu, is up in arms about the Ghana Bar Association’s (GBA) demand that he should refrain from “unprofessional, unfortunate, irresponsible and distasteful” attacks on judges and the judiciary.
The GBA had told Mr. Sosu, who is also a lawyer, in plain language to behave well after he stated that a future NDC government “will deal with political judges politically,” noting that his banding of some judges as politicians are “unwarranted, unnecessary and unjustifiable” and “have a high propensity of creating disaffection and ill-will for judges and for that matter the judiciary.”
But the ‘unrepented’ lawyer has hit back at the GBA, stating that “I reject the allegation of being unprofessional and irresponsible and would reiterate that the GBA is rather a monumental failure to our democracy and I take strong exceptions to the statement of the leadership of the GBA.”
He wondered whether the Ghana Bar Association still exists in the country, following what he called its “loud silence on critical matters of national concern which relate to the bar, legal education, mistreatment of lawyers, lack of welfare for lawyers, human rights abuses, press freedom and justice delivery among others in Ghana.”
“A cursory look at the objects of the GBA Constitution in Part 1, Section 2 clearly shows that the GBA has lost its focus and relevance long ago. Let me remind the GBA leadership that it has a duty to ensure ‘the maintenance of the Independence of the Judiciary.’ How can you achieve this objective if judges allow themselves to be influenced politically?” he asked rhetorically.
“Needless to say, let me be clear that I stand by my statement any day, any time. The statement was a conditional statement and no amount of twists and turns will extricate judicial officers and judges who would allow themselves to become agents of political partisan agenda,” he stressed.
According to him, the leadership of the GBA has sought to create a ‘false impression’ by its “misguided release asserting that judges would lose their jobs when the party that appointed them loses power.”
“This rather reflects the leadership’s misunderstanding of the statement I made,” he indicated and added that his statement was a conditional statement, “judges owe a duty to the Constitution of the Republic of Ghana and the laws of Ghana.”
“If a judge allows him or herself to become an agent of a political party, the tenure of the said judge will run with the political parties they favour. This statement must be the reality of every Ghanaian who believes in Rule of Law and fidelity to the Coat of Arms, the 1992 Constitution and the Judicial Oath taken by judges,” he insisted.
For him, “It is very sad that the leadership of the GBA, which was established by the Constitution of Ghana and historically known to be the champions of Rule of Law, Accountability and Social Justice, has reduced itself to yet another useless institution of our democratic process in these days and times.”
BY Ernest Kofi Adu