Majority Leader in Parliament, Alban Bagbin has defended the appointment of a Supreme Court judge who doubles as a politician.
He argued that such experiences are needed in Ghana’s justice system adding that “governance is about the arms working together, and for you to work together in harmony you must understand what is at stake and you must all try to build consensus around a vision.”
President John Dramani Mahama has nominated two persons namely; the Sole Commissioner, Justice Yaw Apau and a former General Secretary of the People’s National Convention (PNC), Lawyer Gabriel Pwamang to the Supreme Court subject to Parliamentary approval.
The appointment has been met with mixed reaction.
But Alban Bagbin in an interview with Citi FM, explained that the decision is in the best interest of the nation saying “we need to have judges that have a very good grasp of what the legal environment pertains, not only the law, but the other aspects that influence the law; that is the people.”
“They need to work with the people to know their values, their expectations and the vision and so as to balance the equation at the Supreme Court,” he added.
He argued that it is not surprising to note that throughout Ghana’s political history, several appointments made to the Supreme Court have been tagged with party colours.
“If you come from the Gold Coast and you come to the era even before independence, you’ll realize that all those personalities that came into the Supreme Court were politicians. You can start from Sir Arku-Korsah, coming through to Akuffo Addo, Justice Adade, Sir Twum, coming through all of them. We should try to be realistic in life.”
He further reiterated that the justices “need that experience to be able to appreciate the legal issues that are raised by various cases that come before them. It’s very important.”
On whether their political affiliations could have a bearing on their verdicts, the Nadowli-Kaleo legislator said, “It only depends on the integrity of the individual.”
“The fact that I’m a member of Parliament and I’m coming from the NDC doesn’t mean when I’m a judge I cannot show my mettle by being independent. That’s why we’ve put in the Constitution enough provision to protect you from misuse or abuse of power. So you have the entire environment created by law to make you independent and dispense justice without fear or favour so it doesn’t matter where you are coming from.”
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