The Association of Magistrates and Judges of Ghana (AMJG) has filed a formal complaint against the Member of Parliament for Madina, Francis Xavier Sosu, at the General Legal Council (GLC) for tagging judges as ‘political’.
The judges contend that the utterances of the MP, who is also a private legal practitioner, is an unprovoked and baseless attack on the Judiciary as a whole.
The Ghana Bar Association (GBA), in a statement issued on Tuesday, found the assertion by Francis Xavier Sosu “very unprofessional, unfortunate, irresponsible, and distasteful”, saying it smacked of deep-seated ignorance, as the tenure of a judge, per the Constitution of 1992 and other relevant laws, “is never in any way whatsoever tied to the tenure of the political regime under which judges are appointed.”
Their counterparts at the bench are demanding to know from Mr Sosu “who is a political judge, who determines who is a political judge and by what criteria is the determination made? Who are the so-called political judges who are going to be dealt with?”
According to the President of the AMJG, Justice Henry Kwofie, the judges consider the MP’s statement as deliberate and calculated attempt to create disaffection for the Judiciary, as well as an attempt to scandalise the Judiciary and judges, for that matter.
“Having regards to the seriousness with which the AMJG takes this statement and its potential to do undue damage to the image of the Judiciary, the association is lodging a formal complaint against Sosu to the General Legal Council immediately for his unprofessional utterances,” he said in a statement issued yesterday.
Threats
Mr. Sosu had threatened that judges would be “treated politically” when the National Democratic Congress (NDC) forms the next government. According to him, the judges who become ‘political’ in the line of their work will be treated as politicians when tables turn.
The Madina MP, who is standing trial in a court for unlawful blockade of road and destruction of public property, after leading some of his constituents to demonstrate against bad roads, said: “I am begging you, if you make yourself a political judge, you will be treated as a political judge”.
He made that statement last week Thursday during the ‘Yen Tua’ demonstration against the proposed E-Levy tax regime being championed by the ruling government.
“What it means is that when you become partisan as a judge, remember that your tenure of office as a judge will run with the political party that you favour. Let that be clear because political power is very transient…Positions are not possessions, so people will come, people will go,” he said.
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