The Association of Magistrates and Judges of Ghana (AMJG), yesterday lodged a formal complaint with the General Legal Council (GLC) against the Member of Parliament (MP) for Madina Constituency, Mr Francis Xazier Sosu, for allegedly scandalising the judiciary.
Mr Sosu was alleged to have said on a radio interview a few days ago that “If a judge allows himself or herself to become an agent of a political party, the tenure of the said judge will run with the political parties they favour.”
This AMJG described Mr Sosu’s utterance as unfortunate, reckless, unprofessional and misguided.
A statement signed by president of AMJG, Justice Henry Kwofie, in Accra, yesterday, copied the Ghanaian Times, said the MP’s comments were made to create disaffection within the judiciary.
“The Association considers this statement of Sosu as deliberate and calculated to create disaffection against the Judiciary, and we condemn the said statement in no uncertain terms,” it said.
The statement explained that judges do not determine which cases are filed or put before them for hearing.
The AMJG said Mr Sosu’s utterances were an attempt to intimidate judges, who were doing nothing other than their normal work.
The statement said that judges by their calling, “are not politicians, but neutral umpires, who discharge their duties in accordance with law.”
It said “the question the AMJG would like to ask Sosu and his ilk are: 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?”.
The AMUG said the Association takes serious view and considered the statement as an unprovoked attack on the Judiciary.
The Ghana Bar Association (GBA) was the first to raise concerns over Mr Sosu’s statement against the judges.
The GBA, while condemning the statement of the Madina MP, admonished him to refrain from making such statements as it had the potential to tarnish the image of the Judiciary.
In his response, Mr Sosu said the GBA had become a pale shadow of itself, turning a blind eye to mistreatment of lawyers, lack of welfare for lawyers, human rights abuses, press freedom and justice delivery.
Mr Sosu described the GBA as a monumental failure to Ghana’s democracy, adding that a cursory look at the GBA constitution in Part 1 and Section 2 clearly shows that the GBA has lost its focus and relevance long ago.
BY MALIK SULLEMANA
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