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The Director of Legal Affairs of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) has hit back at the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Godfred Yeboah Dame, for admonishing lawyers who criticise the judiciary.
According to Abraham Amaliba, the A-G’s continuous support of judgments by the Supreme Court poses a threat to the justice delivery system of the country.
Mr. Dame at the opening of this year’s Bench, Bar and Faculty Conference on Thursday complained about some lawyers belonging to political parties who deliberately resort to social media to bring the judiciary’s image into disrepute
According to him, these lawyers embark on such actions when their beloved parties lose cases in the courts.
But Mr Amaliba disagrees.
Speaking on Joy FM’s Top Story, he noted that such utterances by the Justice Minister would rather derail the confidence in the judicial system of the country.
“I totally disagree with the Attorney-General. He is [rather] increasingly becoming a danger to our justice delivery system. His conduct and comment and always coming to the defence of the judiciary will give the perception that the Executive and the Judiciary are ‘friends’ and it is rather more dangerous,” he told host, Evans Mensah.
The NDC lawyer explained that what legal practitioners do is merely review and critique the rulings of the Supreme Court.
A situation, he claims should not make such lawyers “enemies”.
“For him to be the spokesperson of the Judiciary and any opportunity he has, he takes a swipe at the lawyers on the other side, because for him, all lawyers should agree with what the SC says, is more dangerous,” he stressed.
Recently, some leading members of the NDC have taken issue with the apex court for some of the rulings it has delivered.
They suggest the rulings are one-sided and mostly favour the government.
As a result, they have sarcastically christened the apex court as “Unanimous SC”.
Meanwhile, the National Security Minister, Kan Dapaah, speaking at a sensitisation workshop on the national security strategy for judges of the superior courts, warned that the perception that the judiciary is biased has dire consequences on the country’s security.
He said if this is not checked, it will compel the citizenry to take the law into their own hands for personal satisfaction with the bench deemed biased.
“Injustice occasioned as a result of the absence of an effective justice delivery system or delayed justice or biased justice is certainly a threat to national security.
“Indeed, when injustice abounds, particularly in situations where the bench, which is considered the final arbiter of disputes, is deemed biased, citizens tend to take the law into their own hands most times without recourse to the established systems of justice delivery,” he said.
He added, “If the interpretation of the law is tilted in our favour all the time, people will start accusing the judiciary and will not have the confidence that they need.”
Source: myJoy
