The Chief Justice nominee, Justice Anin-Yeboah, has dashed the hopes of lawyers and citizens who were expecting him to stop the culture where lawyers wear wigs and long gown to court.
During his vetting by the Appointments Committee of Parliament on Monday, 23 December 2019, Justice Anin-Yeboah stated that the wigs and gowns are the uniforms of lawyers and he will never change it.
“That is our uniform…so I will never never change it,” Justice Anin Yeboah told the Appointments Committee.
The outgone Chief Justice, Sophia Akuffo in a statement in November 2017 signed by her judicial secretary said: “the chief justice has directed that judges wear wigs during court sittings”.
She also said the wearing of the wigs “would provide the needed protection and anonymity for judges and enhanced personal security”.
There was an outpour of anger from some Ghanaian lawyers and ordinary citizens following the notice from the former Chief Justice.
Ghana copied this practice from its British colonial masters after gaining independence in 1957. Although the British have stopped the practice, Ghana is unwilling to adopt such a reform.
The BBC in 2011 reported that the UK Supreme Court ruled that lawyers appearing at the UK’s highest court will no longer have to wear the traditional wig and gown.
The Supreme Court president Lord Phillips at the time said the decision was “in line with the court’s goal” to make its work “as accessible as possible”.
Supreme Court justices wear no legal dress themselves already in the UK.
Senior lecturer at the Faculty of Law, University of Ghana, Professor Raymond Atuguba in April 2018 stated that it was absurd for judges and lawyers in Ghana to continue wearing collars, bibs, wigs, and gowns as dress code.
He concurred with Christian Lawyers Fellowship that the dress code poses avoidable and preventable health conditions to legal practitioners.
Source: Ghana/Starrfm.com.gh/103.5FM