Concerns regarding the decline of trust in Ghana’s judiciary have been voiced by prominent lawyer Tsatsu Tsikata.
The Mo Ibrahim Foundation recently published a paper that demonstrated a significant drop of almost 30% in Ghana’s judiciary’s purported neutrality between 2017 and 2023. Judicial impartiality is evaluated by the report’s indicator using criteria such judicial appointments, judge autonomy, and court independence.
Following the report’s release, National Security Minister Albert Kan Dapaah issued a dire warning, stating that the perception of a biased judiciary has a catastrophic impact on the security of the nation.
If the bench is perceived as unjust, he said, residents might be compelled to enforce the law for themselves in order to feel satisfied.
In an interview with Serwaa Amihere on GHOne TV, Tsatsu Tsikata voiced his concern over the decline in public confidence in the judiciary.
“If people lose confidence in the judiciary, it is also a loss of confidence in the legal profession,” he explained.
“The judiciary is made up of individuals who have risen through the ranks of the legal profession, and when confidence in the judiciary wanes, it directly impacts the entire process of adjudication, which is what lawyers practice in the court”, he added.
The senior lawyer also underlined the ramifications for the nation, especially in light of recent remarks made by the National Security Minister to the judges, who said that the judiciary’s rulings are thought to favor the New Patriotic Party (NPP).
“You could put it in very diplomatic terms, but the message is clear: there’s a perception that the judiciary is acting in favour of the NPP,” he said.
“There is a growing pattern where ordinary citizens jokingly refer to the judiciary as a ‘unanimous football club,’ deciding cases in favour of one side. This creates a dangerous precedent where people lose faith in the judicial process altogether,” he added.
He cautioned that the legitimacy of the legal system may suffer significantly as a result of this view.
Source: Ghanatodayonline.com