It is said that we have a right to all things, but it is not all things that are to our benefit.
The greatest weakness of a leader, is the leader who is unable to live with what he perceives to be those critical of him.
It was the Achilles Heel of the immediate past President of Ghana, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo. He went to great lengths to avoid those he perceived to be his opponents, and to seek their undoing. Akufo-Addo is undoubtedly a political Titan, but his inability to accept dissenting views, even when it made great sense, even led him handing over Parliament to Alban Kingsford Sumana Bagbin. Bagbin then went on to spend four years terrorizing Akufo-Addo. Sometimes those who criticize leadership, those who are able to stand up to powerful people to yell at them to ‘please stop!’, only mean to save leaders from themselves.
The last thing Ghana needs is a Supreme Court that is a poodle. That institution has already earned that belief in the hearts and minds of many Ghanaians. Some people say that if the Supreme Court was not a poodle, if it had the courage to stand on its own two legs, it would have dealt swiftly and decisively with the disgraceful legal challenges that sought to block the transmission of the LGBT bill to President Akufo-Addo. A courageous Supreme Court would have spoken up for the minority and the people facing persecution in the matter of LGBT rights, but hid behind ‘Ghana’s alleged cultural beliefs’ to wound the 1992 Constitution. A courageous Supreme Court would have dealt decisively with the challenge to Mr. Mahama’s eligibility to be President.
But is vacillated. And that vacillation is what probably allowed Mr. Mahama to be President.
Mr. Mahama, it is clear that it is you, personally, who want to ensure the removal of Gertrude Araba Esaaba Sackey Torkornoo as Chief Justice of Ghana. It is you, Sir, and the claim of ‘some people’ so petitioning would not save you that blight of an image. You are instigating this. You would do well to pause in your steps, because it is not in your interest.
And to be frank, your motives for removing Mrs Torkornoo as Chief Justice is borne out of the fact that one, you believe she is a political opponent, and two, your party hawks insist on this aberration.
Be a man, Sir. Avoid this poisoned chalice. Avoid this cup; it contains hemlock.
Since Kwame Nkrumah, almost every President/Head of State/Prime Minister that Ghana has had, has tried to have a Supreme Court in his own image. Some dismissed judges. Others even had them killed. And the judges learned. They know enough not to buck the person who pays the piper. And Sir, for the next four years, you will be paying the piper. Let that be enough for you!
All that this piece is about, is that you do not make what the judges know, and mostly practice, official! The perception is enough.
You would have noticed, Sir, that Article 125, which creates the judiciary, is an entrenched clause in the 1992 Constitution. So is Article 127 on independence of the judiciary. The framers of our 1992 Constitution went to extreme lengths to grant the Supreme Court a buffer from adventurers like yourself.
Please, in the spirit of the wishes of the framers of the 1992 Constitution, please respect the framers, who created the office you now occupy.
However, if it is your intention to continue with the siege against the current Chief Justice, then kindly and boldly cause to be published the so-called petitions calling for the dismissal of the Chief Justice, so that Ghanaians can decide that the provide the necessary prima facie for the removal of such a key constitutional appointee.
A final word. Energy is finite, and four years, truly, is a very short time.
Don’t waste your energy and precious time on matters that would leave you with a blight for a legacy!
