Anas’ exposé severely damaged image of Ghana's Judiciary – Judge

The acting director in charge of the Public Complaints Unit of the Judicial Service says Anas Aremeyaw Anas’ exposé on the service in 2015 has injured its image.

Speaking on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show, appeals court judge, Justice Angelina Mornah Domakyaareh, said measures have been put in place to tackle corruption within the judiciary service.

In 2015 Anas Aremeyaw Anas and his Tiger Eye team implicated 34 judges and magistrates in its undercover investigations meant to expose corruption in Ghana’s legal system.

“In fact, the Anas’ incident is known worldwide, and it dented seriously the image of the judiciary,” Justice Domakyaareh revealed on the show Wednesday.

She stated that “After the Anas incident… swift action was taken and all those who were implicated in that exposé went through the appropriate due process and then they were sanctioned appropriately.”

She was quick to point out that, the country’s judiciary has a lot of good judges “but where there is a good nut among the bad ones, it has the bad nut has the effect of spoiling all the nuts.”

Commenting on the current recruitment process of judges in Ghana, she said “recruitment is now placing a serious focus on integrity…as far as the bench is concerned, legal competence is necessary but the Anas exposé has shown us that legal competence, though necessary, is not sufficient. Because you can be a very brilliant lawyer but if you have no character or integrity you are only going to dent the image of the judiciary…the recruitment process of judges has been further intensified.”

The judicial service now publishes the name of shortlisted applicant in the dailies to invite public comments about their character. This is a means to ensure that the integrity of a person being called to the bench is impeccable.

Justice Domakyaareh said since the introduction of this recruitment process, no member of the public has come forward to report any wrongdoing by a candidate for the bench.

This, she believes, is enough proof that the recruitment process for judges has now become very vigorous.