Special Aide to ex-President John Mahama, Joyce Bawa Mogtari has questioned the independence of the Ghana Bar Association (GBA).
She wonders why the association of lawyers is always quick to respond to constructive criticisms against the judiciary only when they are made by members of the opposition National Democratic Congress(NDC).
Joyce Bawa Mogtari is shocked the Bar Association last week allowed the Attorney General to use its platform during the Bar Conference to denigrate ex-President John Mahama after the latter in an address to lawyers aligned to the NDC said the judiciary needs to fix its broken image.
Attorney-General Godfred Dame at the event described former President John Mahama’s recent criticism of the judiciary as “deplorable” and unbecoming of a statesman.
But speaking in an interview on GHOne TV Wednesday, Joyce Bawa Mogtari who’s a member of the Bar Association said the GBA should work hard to regain its lost independence and objectivity.
“With all due respect, if the Ghana Bar Association were as independent as it ought to be, we probably won’t be having this discussion. The Bar Association is not independent, they are not as objective as I expect them to be. The Bar has had occasion to go to court and sue Attorney Generals in the past. If the Bar Association were independent and objective, I don’t think the speeches would have been synchronized as they sounded. There may have been different views. If they were independent then they would have welcome more criticism to help us probably put our house in order.
“… there was a time in the Ashanti region where bandits of this administration known as the Delta Forces attacked a sitting High Court Judge, they are still free men. You’ve heard about the Ayawaso West Wuogon Commission of Enquiry where are all these recommendations and I’m sure you saw the Government White Paper. Did we not have a Bar Association in this country? so why? when Kan Dapaah made those comments about the judiciary, the Bar Association was not present and they didn’t see it fit for even a fair assessment, a good balance that they should even have highlighted comments made by Hon. Kan Dapaah. They saw no reason even to make reference to the Chief Justice’s own comment at the Commonwealth Magistrates conference. So why, it is only when President Mahama speaks that people have issues? they catch a cough, they look for an opportunity to literally come and respond. Why, couldn’t the government just put out a statement to respond,” the former Deputy Minister for Transport asked.
Source: Ghana/starrfm.com.gh/103.5FM
