ghananlpcommunity/ghana-gov-speeches-sentences huggingface dataset:
At this moment, it is important for all to note that I express this sentiment not because I stand in opposition to former President Mahama as a politician.
My dismay is founded more on the fact that I am a lawyer and every lawyer ought to concerned about these kinds of views expressed by a political leader in this country!
It will be a sore omission if I fail to recognise that there have been other leaders of the political party to which the former President belongs – the National Democratic Congress (NDC).
I do not recall either the late Jerry John Rawlings or the late Prof.
John Evans Atta Mills mount such a systematic and deliberate campaign of hate against the Judiciary.
In fact, never once did Mr Mahama’s former boss, Prof Mills launch any attack at all on the Judiciary.
Closely examined, one will notice that the source of the former President’s unjustified attacks on the Judiciary is the unanimous dismissal by the Supreme Court of his rather porous election petition, which indeed was dead on arrival and bound to be dismissed by any court worth its salt in any country.
One cannot fail to note that his petition before the Court in 2021 was a bundle of incompetent claims devoid of any substance.
As stated already, the allegations of “ wrong aggregation of votes ” and “ vote padding ,” which he put before the Court, collectively involved only 6,622 votes, a figure which could not in any way affect the outcome of the presidential election.
It is therefore perplexing how, if such a petition is dismissed by the Court, it should form the basis for allegations of unfair treatment by the Court.
It ought to be understood that it is the duty of the courts to administer justice according to law.
The court is not a mercy chamber to serve justice based on sympathy or affection.
I observed with even greater worry that the former President, a non-lawyer, made those comments at a meeting of the Legal Committee of his political party.
None of the lawyers raised a finger to contest the wrong and dangerous propaganda by the former President.
By their silence, they became abettors of the propagation of hate against the Judiciary.
It is worrying because lawyers ought to be the loudest and strongest defenders of the independence, integrity and importance of the Judiciary rather than serving as tools for its destruction.
I must however commend the former President for one thing – his contribution to the debate on the need for constitutional reform.
His views on the need to amend article 71 on the payment of emoluments to certain office holders are of interest to me.
Never mind the fact that he has been enjoying those same facilities and privileges for over 20 years and continues to enjoy them.
Mr President, it has taken decades, arguably over a century, to build the integrity of Ghana’s Judiciary.
Let us not condone the imprudent actions of citizens to destroy it through baseless attacks.
We must be proud of our legal service.
I was in England last week, and it was with satisfaction that upon the conclusion of my address at the 39 th Cambridge Symposium on Economic Crime, I learnt of the desire of the new Attorney-General of the United Kingdom, Rt Hon Michael Ellis QC to meet me at the House of Commons last Thursday, 8 th September 2022.
It was literally his first day at work, having been appointed Attorney-General by the new Prime Minister just a day before.
I was thus his first guest on assuming office.
It was with a sense of immense pride that I listened to the glowing tribute the Attorney-General of England and Wales had to pay to Ghana’s democracy and reforms we are pursuing to modernise the criminal justice in Ghana and expand access to justice through a strengthening of the legal aid scheme.
I recall that just a few weeks earlier, you had launched two funds to assist with legal aid and the law reform.
I must say that it is my aspiration that with the Help of the Almighty God, next year, I should be in the position to report to Conference the progress that has been made by the Legal Aid Commission and the Law Reform Commission pursuant to the establishment of the two funds.
Mr President, the Rt Hon Michael Ellis QC was full of commendation for your stance on Ukraine.
He considers your position exemplary and the way to go.
For the Bar, I must say I was intrigued to observe that the new Attorney-General of England and Wales is an ardent believer in the wig and gown and considers same emblematic of the noble traditions of the Bar.
Problems with the justice system The Bar ought to unite in a common effort to project to the world a strong and clear message about how exceptional this country’s Judiciary is.
Certainly, I do not say that everything in the garden is wonderful.
The Judiciary is not without its problems.
The Bar should, however be concerned about more serious and fundamental problems with our justice system.
A court system which leaves accused persons to face state prosecutors with no, or no adequate representation, is hardly satisfactory.
We need to strengthen legal aid.
A court system in which summary trials of criminal cases can last for more than four years militates against the right to a fair trial, defeats the ends of justice and must be looked at again.
A prison system comprising overcrowded and understaffed seminaries of crime is not a functioning prison system.
These matters should be of prime concern of the Bar.
Barristers are not mere “economic actors” to borrow the words of Sir David Clementi, former Chairman of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).
We are professionals whose role is to ensure that justice is done according to law.
We act not only in the interest of consumers but also in the public interest.
At the heart of this profession are three commitments: to independence, to excellence and to advocacy.
These three tenets, combined with the Bar’s high degree of versatility, explain why the Bar has survived in Ghana since 1876 and why in my view, it will continue to survive and thrive.
But we should not take these things for granted.
The essential elements of the profession must be guarded against elements who seek to destroy same.
We must be careful to ensure that our reactions to adverse rulings given against us by the courts do not traverse the bounds of ethical behaviour.
On this note, may I remind you that Dr.
J. B. Danquah’s only reaction to the judgment in Re Akoto , which posterity has adjudged to be obnoxious, was “ I am grateful ”.
President Akufo-Addo’s only reaction to the verdict in the 2013 Election Petition , which some scholars perceived to be wrong, was “ even though I disagree, I accept it ”.
Such is the time-honoured standard of civility in law practice we should aspire to observe at all times.
As Attorney-General, in addition to strengthening the criminal justice system, I will strive to ensure the establishment of a viable, fair and expeditious system of commercial dispute resolution through the setting up of a Ghana Arbitration Centre as envisaged under the Alternative Dispute Resolution Act, 2010 ( Act 798 ) .
With the frequent referral of disputes to arbitration, we need to make Ghana the hub of arbitration in Africa generally and in West Africa in particular.
Mr Chairman, as I resume my seat, I will remind Conference that every democracy has imperfections.
Yet democracy remains unmatchable as the best form of government.
For a manifestation of the imperfections of democracy, we need to look no further than recent events in the modern age’s self-declared preceptor and exporter of democracy around the world, the United States of America.
For all the robustness of her constitutional and democratic structures, tweaked and nurtured painstakingly over the years since the founding of America 245 years ago, it emerged from a close encounter with the spectre of political anarchy and a near insurrection on 6 th January 2021.
However, it still holds on fast to democracy without question.
Democracy may have its imperfections but it is indispensable.
I wish you all an enjoyable conference.
God bless us all!!!
GODFRED YEBOAH DAME ATTORNEY-GENERAL AND MINISTER FOR JUSTICE 11/09/2022
His Excellency the President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, Her Ladyship the Chief Justice, Mrs.
Gertrude Araba Esaaba Sackey Torkornoo, Justices of the Supreme Court Justices of other superior courts of judicature Retired justices of the Supreme Court Honourable ministers of state, Central regional minister, Justina Marigold Assan, The President of the Ghana Bar Association, Yaw Acheampong Boafo, Deputy Attorney General, Mr Alfred Tuah-Yeboah, The Omanhene of Ogua Traditional Area, Osabarima Kwesi Atta II Members of the Bar Council, The president of the Central Regional Bar, Members of the Bar, distinguished ladies and gentlemen, friends of the media It is always a delight to be in the company of colleagues at the Bar at the annual Bar Conference.
The Bar Conference presents that rare opportunity to meet fellow lawyers from different walks of life, whether we practise in commerce or crime, whether we work in public service or private practice, and from Bolgatanga to Takoradi.
It reinforces my conviction that, fundamentally, we are one Bar and a strong one at that.
Since the last Bar Conference in Ho, we have had a new Chief Justice in the person of Her Ladyship Justice Gertrude Araba Esaaba Sackey Torkornoo - the third woman to occupy the office and 15 th in the history of Ghana.
I have no doubt that the repertoire of qualities, skills and experience she possesses will place her in a position to continue with the process of modernising and transforming Ghana’s Judiciary.
Congratulations, My Lady.
The Bar of which I am the official Leader is in full support of your tenure.
I pledge the fullest cooperation of the Office of the Attorney-General and Ministry of Justice for you as well.
May God be your guide as you superintend justice delivery in our great Republic.
Cape Coast represents many of the good things in law practice.
The first capital of the Gold Coast and the hometown of the first indigenous lawyer our land has birthed, John Mensah Sarbah, it is apt to say that Cape Coast is indeed the cradle of the law in Ghana.
The first Supreme Court building is located a few miles away from this venue.
At this point, may I say that I am aware of plans to construct a new High Court complex opposite Adisadel College, as part of this government’s agenda to deliver a set of modern and fit-for-purpose infrastructure for the Judiciary throughout the country.
Whilst not opposed to the idea of construction of a new High Court Complex for the people of Cape Coast, I am of the view that we should also renovate and preserve the significance of that beautiful edifice which once housed our Supreme Court as a historical monument for Ghana’s Judiciary.
Most occupants of the highest echelons of power in our legal profession – the offices of the Chief Justice and the Attorney-General had their secondary education in Cape Coast.
Many a lawyer obtained some nurturing from a Cape Coast high school.
I hope that lawyers gathered here will in the course of the week find time to undertake some outreach activity at your respective institutions.
Personally, Cape Coast holds good sentiments for me as well.
I did my primary education in Cape Coast, starting from class one at Albert Sam Memorial Preparatory School, and continuing up to the secondary level at Adisadel College, where I was part of the last batch of both the Ordinary and Advanced Level candidates in 1994 and 1996 respectively.
And in talking about Cape Coast’s contribution to the law, it is fitting to recall that the flame of Adisadel burns bright in the field of law.
I understand the Wesley Girls people fondly say, quite rightly, that they have produced the first three lady Chief Justices.
But the record shows that before Chief Justice Georgina Wood, three of the immediate last four Chief Justices - Philip Edward Archer, Edward Kwame Wiredu and George Kingsley Acquah were all Adisadel products.
So it is correct to say that the trail was blazed quite some time ago.
President, I was struck by the importance of the choice of theme by the Bar for this year’s conference“ Ensuring high standards and integrity in public life – the role of the legal profession ”.
It cannot be overstated that the legal profession indeed has a huge role to play in the setting and maintenance of high standards and integrity in public life.
The law, which members of this profession practise, consists of a system of rules by which a particular country or community regulates the actions of its members and which it may enforce by penalties.
The Bar has, of course, always had close links with public life.
The history of the land on which we live has seen a very intimate dependence on the law.
The acquisition of the Gold Coast by the British and the manner in which the British chose to regulate their relationship with the indigenous people, depended on law.
After independence, law continued to shape the policies and visions of successive governments, dreams and aspirations of the people.
Every new administration has been ushered in by law.
Even the military regimes that abrogate the Constitution have been quick to put in place various military decrees to legitimize their reigns as well as to formally abrogate the old constitutions.
The political architecture of the current Republic of Ghana is a creation of the law.
Ghana is built on a legal instrument, the Constitution, approved by a national referendum in April, 1992.
The election of the President every 4 years is always validated by the publication of a law, a Constitutional Instrument titled the “ Declaration of President-Elect Instrument ”.
In driving home the pre-eminence of the law in the affairs of State, I cannot help but quote once again the immortal words of an eminent Ghanaian jurist and a former Chief Justice, Justice Azu Crabbe at the time of the celebration of the centenary of the establishment of the Supreme Court in 1976: “ If our legal history has been eventful in this past century, we can also say that we have been lucky in the people of our nation who have been alive, in every generation, to match the grandeur of the events of their time.
We have, in these years past, never needed a hero in the law to speak up for our people, - a Casely-Hayford to warn the imperial power to keep our lands inviolate; a Mensah Sarbah to plead the people’s cause in the highest councils of Empire; a Coussey to guide in the writing of our first constitution towards independence, in our own lifetime, a Danquah to keep us reminded of the need for legal self-discipline in the tumultuous years immediately after independence, and a Korsah to hold, first among our people, the scales of justice evenly between the Government, the Legislature and the people”.
Throughout much of the history of post-independence Ghana, there has been a shared culture between the Bar and the higher reaches of government and the civil service.
There has never been a gulf between the worlds of law and politics.
A very large number of practising barristers have been members of the House of Parliament.
The Speakers of Parliament Ghana has had thus far, have been lawyers.
The Fourth Republic has seen three of its five Presidents so far being lawyers.
Unfortunately, it looks like the next President will not be a lawyer.
However, it is becoming increasingly quite clear that, even though the next President will be an economist, being the son of a lawyer, he will hold fast to the values the legal profession cherishes.
Lawyers role in promotion of integrity in Ghana If lawyers have played this prominent role in the building and development of our country, then their role in the maintenance of standards and the promotion of integrity in public life cannot be taken for granted.
The significance of integrity is classically summed up in the famous words of Former US Senator, Alan K. Simpson “ If you have integrity, nothing else matters.
If you do not have integrity, nothing else matters ”.
In these words, the importance and indispensability of integrity in every situation we find ourselves in as human beings, including our public life, is brought to the fore.
As lawyers, the rules of our profession which bind us up in the discharge of our five-fold duty to the client, the Court, the opponent, to the lawyer’s own self, and ultimately to the State, as stated by Lord Macmillan, a former Advocate-General of Scotland and former Member of the House of Lords, are founded on integrity and place us in a position to ensure the maintenance of high standards in public life.
If we properly conceive of the role of lawyers as not mere “ economic actors ”, to borrow the words of Sir David Clementi, we will understand that we are professionals whose functions lie at the heart of our justice system.
For that matter, the public interest must be the guiding factor in all we do.
In my view, the Legal Profession (Professional Conduct and Etiquette) Rules, 2020 (L I.
2423) is carefully designed to serve as the signpost for high standards and integrity in public service for every lawyer.
Rule 1 of L. I.
2423 sets out the lawyer’s duty to discharge his responsibilities towards the client, the court, the public and another lawyer honourably and with integrity.
In the same Rule, we find the lawyer’s responsibility, in view of the important role of the legal profession in a free democratic society, to recognise the diversity of the Ghanaian community, to protect the dignity of individuals and to respect human rights laws in force in the country.
Rule 5 of L. I.
2423 teaches us that in a representation by a lawyer, that lawyer is “ a representative of a client, an officer of the legal system and a public citizen with special responsibility for the delivery of quality justice ”.
Quite importantly, and I have often spoken about this, by dint of Rule 12(1), a lawyer is prohibited in the course of his professional practice, from sending written correspondence or communicating orally with another lawyer in a manner that is abusive, offensive or inconsistent with the proper conduct of a professional communication from a lawyer.
Rule 14(2) further prohibits a lawyer from making a communication that is false or misleading if that communication amounts to a material misrepresentation of a fact or law.
This really applies to lawyers who are constant users of or commentators on social media and the traditional media.
It is abundantly clear from these rules that the age-old requirements of the profession, in so far as ethics is concerned, apply to lawyers on social media.
Indeed, technology did not eradicate ethics.
President, Rule 34 dictates that every lawyer shall make reasonable efforts to expedite litigation.
As you can imagine, this is of interest to me.
The considerably slow pace of justice delivery in Ghana hampers productivity and progress in many spheres of the nation’s life.
In accordance with Rule 34, it is the duty of every lawyer to expedite litigation.
One area of justice delivery which requires urgent injection of expedition and efficiency is criminal justice.
I have recently presented to Cabinet a Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Bill which introduces a substantial reform of the criminal procedure laws of this country, with the ultimate objective of enhancing the speed of adjudication of criminal cases.
The new measures proposed include scrapping trials on indictment except where the offence is punishable by death or life imprisonment as enjoined under the Constitution or other substantive law, provision for examination of witnesses by video conferencing, provision for trials to proceed where an accused person is not personally present in court, day-to-day trial of all criminal cases except where same is impracticable, restriction on interlocutory appeals to only after a determination by the trial court of a submission of no case, reform of the jury system to reduce the list of exemptions from jury service, the composition of the jury (by addition of alternate jurors), adoption of proceedings in criminal cases and many other matters.
The Bill underwent extensive stakeholder consultations prior to its presentation to Cabinet and I note with satisfaction, that, the Judicial Council and the Ghana Bar Association have approved of these far-reaching reforms of criminal procedure in Ghana.
I am hopeful Cabinet will deliberate on same rapidly in order for it to be laid in Parliament when it resumes sittings in October.
In dealing with efficiency and speed of justice delivery, I note that Rule 36(e) restricts a lawyer from making a frivolous discovery request.
This is for the lawyers who have the tendency to bother the prosecutors in my office with somewhat unnecessary and irrelevant requests for the discovery of documents even when they are in possession of the very documents they request.
The defence of the legal profession against destruction by outsiders Respectfully, at the heart of the legal profession are three commitments: to independence, to excellence and to advocacy.These three tenets, combined with the Bar’s high degree of tenacity, explain why the Bar has survived in Ghana since 1876 and why in my view, it will continue to survive and thrive.
Lawyers must fearlessly speak against tendencies which threaten the integrity of our profession.
Fearlessness is an age-old attribute of the good advocate.
Rule 52 of L. I.
2423 specifically restrains lawyers from making statements which they know to be false or with reckless disregard for their falsity concerning the integrity of a judge, an adjudicative officer or a public legal officer.
Rule 61(b)(iii) proceeds to further bar lawyers from engaging in conduct which diminishes confidence in the administration of justice.
We cannot turn a blind eye to the reality that it has become customary, and for some people, an annual affair, to launch unwarranted attacks on the independence of the Judiciary.
If the source of the recent attacks on the independence of the Judiciary is of concern, of even greater worry is the class of people who provide audience for such unwarranted comments to be made.
The audience consisted of lawyers.
It is worrying because, as I have stated before, lawyers ought to be the loudest and strongest defenders of the independence, integrity and importance of the Judiciary rather than serving as tools for its destruction.
By the silence, they have become abettors in the propagation of hate against the Judiciary.
For one to express the desire to appoint mainly members of one’s political party to the Judiciary if given the mandate to govern the nation again, clearly indicates an unfamiliarity with the process of appointment of judges.
Whilst acknowledging the constitutional duty of the President to appoint all judges in the country, it is imperative to note that the President does not appoint judges to any court in a vacuum, or, in exercise of an absolute power in that regard.
Each appointment unto the Judiciary is preceded first, by an indication of a vacancy by the Judicial Council.
Without a vacancy, the President cannot appoint.
We cannot, in this regard, rule out the coincidence of situations.
If a vacancy arises, it falls for whichever President is in office to formally fill same by appointing after the exhaustion of all constitutionally mandated procedures.
Thus, the notion that a President can just appoint any number of judges that he desires, in order to “neutralise” the perceived political coloration of the Judiciary, is incorrect and grossly misleading.
Further, the participation of the Judicial Council as well as the Council of State and Parliament, where necessary, in the processes of appointing a judge stipulated in Article 144 of the Constitution cannot be ignored.
The President also does not have the power to empanel a court.
President, a consequence of the Government’s policy to expand and improve the infrastructure of the Judiciary through the construction of over 100 High Court buildings around the country and the Court of Appeal complex in Kumasi which has 20 (4 bedroom) bungalows, each with a 2-bedroom outhouse for Justices of the Court of Appeal, has been the need to appoint and post judges to some of these courts.