The Member of Parliament for Manhyia South, Nana Agyei Baffour Awuah, has urged the Ghana Bar Association (GBA) to move beyond issuing condemnations and engage more deeply with broader concerns about Ghana’s justice system, following recent public debate involving the judiciary.
His comments come in the wake of controversy surrounding remarks made by Minority Leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin about a Circuit Court judge handling the case involving NPP Bono Regional Chairman, Kwame Baffoe, popularly known as Abronye DC. The issue has also sparked debate over the role and response of the Ghana Bar Association.
Speaking on Citi Eyewitness News on Monday, May 18, the Manhyia South MP said the GBA should adopt a more balanced and principled approach when responding to such matters, rather than limiting itself to criticism of individual conduct.
He noted that the association often finds itself under pressure from different political interpretations, which places it “between a rock and a hard place.”
“GBA should not just limit itself to the condemnation or criticism of what has happened… I believe the GBA is always caught between the rock and the hard place. It is always facing criticism from one party or the other that it is tied to the NPP,” he said.
According to him, a principled response in the current circumstances should go beyond focusing on the comments made by the Minority Leader alone.
“A principled position in this case will not just be a criticism of Hon Afenyo-Markin the Minority Leader that is if even it is the best thing to do,” he added.
Baffuor Awuah also called for greater public attention to what he described as emerging trends within the justice system, arguing that such issues should not be overlooked.
“That said I would want us to focus on the elephant in the room, the real issue. There is a certain trend that we must all be interested in as Ghanaians. We need to interrogate it because the only time we get to hear or see what goes in in the court room perhaps apart from election petition or high profile cases are being dealt with and so we are not able to follow a regular basis,” he stated.
He further questioned whether court processes are being applied consistently across different categories of cases.
“There is a certain trend which is contrary to due process of law and we shouldn’t be worried? is this the court’s way of dealing with ordinary people too or it’s just their way of dealing with high profile people. If it is their way of dealing with high profile people, that is equally more concerning because the court then would have taken a partisan position but if this is the way of dealing with everybody then it raises fundamental issues of the competence of that court,” he said.
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