Lawyers Shock Assembly...

...admit massive corruption in judiciary

THE ON-GOING public hearing about the perceived corruption in the Ghanaian judiciary by the Parliamentary Select Committee on the Judiciary made a stop-over in Sekondi-Takoradi last week with shocking revelations by some members of the bar.

"It is undeniable fact that there is massive corruption going on in our judicial system. We, the lawyers, the judges and the judicial staff, are all contributors to this canker in our judicial system," Mr. Ackaah Gyasi, a Takoradi-based legal practitioner, roared on top of his voice when he was given the chance to make his contribution.

Hon. Osei Prempeh, the chairman of the committee, set the ball rolling at exactly 10.15 am by assuring the large gathering, which, according to him, is the largest they have so far seen in their regional tour, that they are immune from prosecution about every statement they would make.

Hon. Prempeh's assertion opened the door for members of the bar and the public, who were already pregnant with their revelations and contributions about the perceived corruption in the judiciary to do so.

Mr. Arkaah Gyasi, who was the first legal practitioner to catch the eyes of the chairman, shocked the latter and his committee members when he got hold of the microphone and told them that it would be out of place for any one to conclude that there is no corruption in our judicial system.

According to him, there is massive corruption going on in our judicial system with lawyers, the judges themselves and their subordinates all playing a major role.

He told the committee members, who also included Hon. Asiedu Nketia, MP for Wenchi East, that though no judge would officially demand money to influence a case he is handling, his actions or behaviour would compel the feuding parties to approach him in "chambers."

"They will indirectly demand something from you by constantly adjourning the case which could easily be disposed of just to compel the feuding parties to also respond if they want early disposal of the case," he said.

Arkaah Gyasi further told the committee members, including Hon. Francis Agbotse, MP for Ho West, that the only way these corrupt practices could be uprooted from the judicial system is for the government to improve upon the poor conditions of service for the Ghanaian judge.

He was, however, quick to add that even if the salary of a police officer is increased to ?1 million a month, he will still take bribe, arguing that good conditions of services alone cannot solve the problem entirely.

"Those working under him will surely take the money and give it to him, even though he may not have asked for it," he noted, adding that the perceived corruption in our judicial system is a multi-faceted one which must be tackled from all angles.

Turning the heat on his colleagues, Ackaah Gyasi said some of them instead of sitting down to study and prepare a good defence, they would rather like to rely on the judge to fight their case for them knowing the "underground" work they have done.

The president of the Western Region Chapter of the Bar Association, Mr.Arvo Mensah, on his part, told the committee members that appointment of judges to the bench is sometimes fraught with corruption.

This, he continued, has resulted in the appointment of people who have no legal certificate into the bench as judges. He cited one judge who has now been dismissed from the judiciary as a typical example of what he was talking about.

According to Arvo Mensah, this unfortunate incident has been occurring because the bar is not consulted before such appointments are made.

The rule is that whoever wants to be appointed to the bench must first submit his application through his regional bar for onward submission to the Chief Justice (CJ), but some of the lawyers sometimes by-pass us to submit their applications to the CJ himself, who also appoints them without a recourse to the region where they practice," he said.

The regional bar president further told the committee that it is the bar that knows the performance of each lawyer, but if they are ignored in the appointment process, those who do not have the qualification may find their way to the bench as the one he hinted at earlier.

Earlier in his welcome address, the regional minister, Hon. Joseph Boahen Aidoo, noted that recent perception of corruption in the judicial system where people feel they have not been given fair trial, if not urgently addressed, could erode the confidence of the public in the judicial system.

"It is generally believed that respect for the law is a matter of confidence in the judiciary. Indeed, the greater our confidence that the law is being impartially administered, the greater our respect for the law. If two people think that the same law applies in a different way to both of them, the law will seem capricious," he noted.

The programme was organised by the Centre for Democratic Development (CDD), in conjunction with the Parliamentary Select Committee on the Judiciary.