By Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., Ph.D.
Swearing in some 12 circuit court judges and 10 magistrates recently, Chief Justice Georgina T. Wood was reported to have declared that "Ghanaians are entitled to assess the performance of the judiciary." She may have been obliquely reprimanding Justice William Atuguba for so imperiously presuming to stage-manage the way and manner in which Ghanaians feel obligated to assess the judicial performances of Supreme Court judges and, indeed, the synedochical bench at large (See "Ghanaians Entitled To Assess Performance of Judiciary - CJ" Ghanaian Times / Ghanaweb.com 7/9/13).
Chief Justice Wood was also reported to have exhorted judges to "work harder to sustain the trust and confidence reposed in them." The foregoing quote clearly points to the fact that, by and large, members of the bench seriously lack the trust, confidence and respect of the Ghanaian people. And only a radical change of professional attitude could reverse the preceding negative trend. This is what the apparently power-drunk Atuguba-presided court hearing the Election 2012 Presidential Petition does not seem to remarkably appreciate.
Well, I have a problem with the Chief Justice's description of judicial power as one that is systematically and meticulously exercised by judges and magistrates for the greater good of the "sovereign people of the country." Judging by the general attitude of the Atuguba Court, one has an extremely difficult time differentiating "The Atuguba Nine" from the extortionate and abject tyranny that was the tandem regimes of the Rawlings-led Provisional National Defense Council (PNDC) and the so-called National Democratic Congress (NDC).
Indeed, if Chief Justice Wood wants to be taken seriously, then she needs to promptly publish a comprehensive position paper detailing the political and professional orientation of the Supreme Court, in particular, and the judicial system in general. I have cautioned before and hereby reiterate the same: if the Atuguba Court is not promptly weaned off its new-found judicial-contempt toy, the nation may well slide towards an irreparable state of civil chaos.
The twenty protracted years that they endured under Mr. Rawlings' infamous "culture of silence," has galvanized many Ghanaians into being inexorably prepared to sacrifice their lives for the inalienable right to uncensored speech. And it is for this reason that the International Court of Justice ought to promptly consult with Mrs. Wood on the current highly charged atmosphere of judicial oppression and intimidation of Ghanaian citizens, with a view to finding an effective remedy for the same.
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*Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., Ph.D.
Department of English
Nassau Community College of SUNY
Garden City, New York
July 12, 2013
E-mail: [email protected]
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