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The Association of Magistrates and Judges of Ghana (AMJG) has threatened to take legal action against President Mahama if their book and research allowance is not paid. The association described as laughable the fact that the allowance, which it said had not seen any increment since its introduction, had been in arrears for two years. The government recently announced that it was going to scrape the book and research allowance in tertiary institutions and replace it with a research fund � a decision various teacher umbrella bodies had kicked against. Justice Sir Dennis Adjei, President of AMJG who gave the hint in an address at the opening of the 55th Annual General Meeting of the association in Accra yesterday under the theme: �Judging with Integrity, the Role of the Judge in Adjudicating,� was emphatic that going to court was the last resort under the current circumstance. Jump Or Be Pushed �We are calling upon the president to pay the fuel and the book and research allowances within a reasonable time to avoid legal suit which is the last resort to address our grievance,� he underscored. Justice Sir Adjei said AMJG had extremely been pushed to the wall, stressing that �The time has come for us to use judicial means to recover allowances lawfully due us.� The AMJG president termed as puzzling the fact that all public officials who use official vehicles are given fuel by the state, but judges, who also use official vehicles, buy their own fuel. Remuneration Beyond the threat of a court action against the president, Justice Sir Adjei stated that magistrates and judges had not received salary increases for the past two years, even though fuel prices had been increased within the period under review over 200 percent. He wondered, �Is this realistic? The tradition has been that judges do not express their opinion on their legitimate demands, but the time is up for us to make lawful demands.� Corruption Justice Sir Adjei charged judges to eschew corrupt practices and dispense justice without fear or favour. The Chief Justice, Mrs. Justice Georgina T. Wood, observed that the contributions of AMJG had enormously contributed to the substance of the rule of law in the country. She said all must be desirous of working to build a well respected judiciary richly endowed with the highest standards of judicial accountability, and transparency, exemplified in the judicial virtues of probity, integrity, impartiality, fairness and an unyielding commitment to the rule of law. Nene Amegatcher, President of the Ghana Bar Association, said the media had been embroiled in the issue of integrity, even in the area of sports, to the extent that the church, which is a citadel of morality, had not been spared. He was emphatic that society is sick, the reason why judges must help to shape it.