GBA must embrace Pres Mahama’s task!!
It is not out of place that President John Dramani Mahama has called on the Ghana Bar Association (GBA) to help purge the country’s Judiciary of perceived corruption, especially on the basis that multiple surveys have confirmed that.
Even though The Ghanaian Times does not have the details of the survey, the word “perceived” used to modify the corruption speaks volumes.
In one sense ‘perceive’ means “to become aware or conscious of something; come to realise or understand it”. In another, it means “to interpret or regard someone or something in a particular way.”
Clearly, coming to such conclusions means those making the conclusions have evidences to prove them.
The Oxford Academic, an international research platform from Oxford University Press, states that corruption and corruption perception can be considered as cultural phenomena because they depend on how a society understands the rules and what constitutes a deviation.
In Ghana, as elsewhere, all manner of crimes are prosecuted in the courts, which collectively are classified as the judiciary.
People who go to court spread information about corruption such as a judge or magistrate taking a bribe to judge a case in favour of the one who did deserve the innocence verdict.
Sometimes such cases go for appeal and the wrong judgement are overturned.
The Ghanaian Times would hardly agree that all the accusations of corruption among members of the judiciary are mere rumours.
The truth is that all cases of crime in the country would up end in court, where lawyers, particularly those who are not on the bench, would have a pivotal role in defending accused persons, and these lawyers are members of the Ghana Bar Association.
Should they go to the court to condone the corruption among some judges and magistrates?
It is rumoured that it takes some lawyers to mediate, for instance, the bribes to pay judges sitting on certain cases.
Therefore, the task President Mahama has given the GBA is a herculean one but must be performed.
This is because it is well known point that corruption among the judiciary denies citizens access to justice and the basic human right to a fair and impartial trial, sometimes even to a trial at all.
This subverts the rule of law, brings about some hardships on some people and mars their wellbeing and welfare. The Ghanaian Times wouldn’t point to any case to illustrate this point but it is pretty sure a good number of the members of the public can testify to this with their own experiences.
The implications of such situations are dire, particularly for the vulnerable, who become helpless even when they have been denied justice.
The situation is also dire for the country because records like those of the Global Corruption Report conclude that a corrupt judiciary erodes the international community’s ability to prosecute transnational crime and inhibits access to justice and redress for human rights violations.
The situation undermines economic growth by damaging the trust of the investor community, and impedes efforts to reduce poverty in the country.
While we commend President Mahama for giving the GBA that task as part of his efforts to fight all manner of corruption in the country, he should always be mindful that judicial corruption can also occur through political interference, so he should do all he can to avoid being caught in that web.
