Justice Atuguba speaks on Mahama’s criticism of the judiciary and calls for ‘balancing the court’

Justice William Atuguba, a retired justice of the Supreme Court of Ghana, has commented on former President John Dramani Mahama’s criticism of the judicial arm of government and his call for balancing the court because it is now filled with “NPP judges”.

Speaking in an interview on JoyNews on Wednesday, October 25, 2023, Justice Atuguba said that the former president has every right to criticise the judiciary because he is a statesman.

He added that Ghanaians are allowed to speak up against the court when things are not going so well because it would not augur well for the country when the public loses trust in the judiciary, myjoyonline.com reports.

“The courts belong to the public, and that thing should never be lost sight of. Everything in the state belongs to the people. Every other person in any position is a trustee for the people, and that’s why court proceedings are held in public for the public to follow the proceedings to assess things for themselves to see how justice is administered, whether it’s fair or not.

“There’s a big public outcry about the nature of the Supreme Court as it stands. They feel that it is politically tilted toward the NPP. You can see a lot of those sentiments expressed on social media, to the extent that they call them unanimous FC. When the public loses confidence or starts complaining, you don’t just push it aside because when nothing is happening, they won’t do that,” he said.

He added that Mahama, the presidential candidate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), has every right to speak because there is a perception that the judiciary is biased towards the government, which has been admitted by the Minister for National Security, Albert Kan-Dapaah.

“That is why it doesn’t pay to gamble with the truth because it will surface and can cause damage. So, on the whole, that perception is there. I didn’t cause it, but it’s there. And so Mahama can talk about it.”

The former Supreme Court judge, however, indicated that he does not agree with Mahama’s suggestion to balance the court because it is currently being filled with New Patriotic Party (NPP) judges by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.

He said that Mahama's suggestion implies that he would repeat the same thing when he comes to power.

“The only point where I will disagree with him is that he should have gone further to say that you, the NDC lawyers who are experienced and independent-minded, you should get ready. So, that they come and will not give the same impression. But if it is just politically balancing the equation, then that is not helpful. Then why don't you leave this? Is it just because you also want an opportunity to do the same thing? That doesn't advance anything," he noted.

What Mahama said:

Former President John Dramani Mahama called for a balancing out of Ghana's bench which he says is currently packed with persons who are sympathetic to the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP).

He urged lawyers in the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) to prepare themselves to get onto the bench in order to balance out the massive appointments Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has made onto the bench in the last seven years.

“You can see what the current president has done, he has appointed the biggest number of judges onto the bench, it is more than 80 towards 100 and counting," he noted in a virtual address to the 3rd Annual Lawyers Conference of the NDC on Saturday, September 2.

“He has packed the court and we know they have packed the court because they want to avoid accountability after they have left office. We must be prepared as NDC legal persons to also go onto the bench so that we can balance out the judiciary.

“Currently, the judiciary is packed with NPP-inclined judges because this government has carried out a deliberate policy of putting their people on to the bench.

“So, I encourage some of you to look at careers on the bench so that we can balance out what the current situation is,” he added.

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