Ndebugri: Ghana's judiciary 'reasonably' independent

Ghana's judiciary is "reasonably independent" in dispensing justice, former Member of Parliament for Zebilla, John Ndebugri has said on Class 91.3FM's 'Point of Law', a programme designed for lawyers to discuss the legal aspects of topical national issues.

Mr Ndebugri said: "Theoretically the judiciary and other institutional bodies are mandated to be independent…but in real life – as I have said – there are no absolutes."

"...There are objective reasons why the judiciary cannot be absolutely independent," he said, explaining: "…Speaking as a lawyer and [from] the experience I have gathered in my years of practice as a lawyer, I’ll say that the judiciary in Ghana is reasonably independent."

He pointed out that the "Constitution has made very concrete provisions to guarantee the independence of the judiciary in terms of its structure, in terms of its financing…"

"You can be independent if you stand on your own," he told host Godwin Agyei-Gyemfi Tuesday. The discussion comes amidst a raging judicial corruption scandal involving 34 judges. They were caught on camera by investigative journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas, allegedly taking bribe to warp justice. Mr Ndebugri is counsel of for some of those judges, who are fighting to clear their name.

Chief Justice Theodora Georgina Wood has put together a five-member committee to probe the judges, as part of impeachment and removal proceedings. Lawyers for some of the implicated judges have questioned the propriety of the methods used by Anas in gathering the evidence against their clients in the two-year undercover work. Some of them have appealed to entrapment arguments in their quest to have the court declare the evidence inadmissible.