What Is Right Is Right

The 54th Legal Year was characteristically ushered in with a church service and words of admonition steeped in lavish spirituality.

Occasions of this nature cannot be ushered in without spiritual pomp and pageantry, given also the sacredness of the job of the bench in adjudicating over who is right or wrong, life or death so that justice can be seen to be administered in our iniquity-laden world.

The administration of justice serves as an important disparity between us and the other creatures of God in the animal kingdom.

It is for this reason that we view with utmost awe and reverence the church service and admonitions which ushered in the 54th Legal Year.

Many such occasions have come and gone and we have remained who we are, Ghanaians, always nagging and levelling unsubstantiated allegations against those in authority with frivolous evidence or none at all.

With the country steeped in a culture of political arrogance awash with vituperations and destructive stereotyping, the judiciary has particularly come under unfair attacks by persons who should have known better the implications of their dastardly project.

The judiciary has never suffered so much verbal tribulation as in the past legal year. This was a period when some of them were compelled to recall with trepidations what befell their fallen seniors at the hands of state agents. They were threatened by the chairman of the ruling party whose �there are many ways of killing a cat� refrain upset not only their members but all who see in the rule of law, and not of men, the most civilized path to follow.

The Chief Justice in particular had her unfair share of the attacks on the integrity of the judiciary even as she continued to do her best to tackle the shortcomings of the bench as part of the Ghanaian community.

As a human institution, we have stated time without number that the judiciary has its own challenges and shortcomings. Which institution does not have? In spite of these, however, our democracy would not be complete without this important and sacred arm of government.

The peculiar nature of the work of the men and women who serve their country in this appendage of state demands of them to live above board, perhaps more than anyone else.

We can criticize the quality of their output but such dissent should not be the kind which seeks to deliberately rob the institution of the integrity it needs to continue to serve their compatriots in the true spirit of freedom and justice.

The existence of other channels like the appeal system and even the Supreme Court are standard recourses open to those not satisfied with judgments or rulings. We demand of members of both the bench and bar to let truth be their hallmark so that the output of their professional activities will not be tainted.

Rev. Fr. Andrew Campbell said it all when he advised the bench and bar to let truth guide them in all their professional undertakings since after all, �what is right is right and what is wrong is wrong.�

Altering the foregone will not stand the test of time as the truth will always be out. We wish those charged with the onerous task of adjudicating justice in the unfolding legal year the resilience of spirit even as they are insulted and given names by those who would rather things in the judiciary fall apart.

May they not be deterred by the invectives and contemptuous allusions deliberately unleashed upon them. God who made all things possible and the good people of this country will stand by their side shoulder to shoulder.

Source: Daily Guide