A Justice of the Supreme Court, Justice Jones Dotse has described as an “insult of the highest order” a presentation made by law Professor, Raymond Atuguba, which sought to create a link between voting trends by judges of the Supreme Court and the political party that appointed them into office.
Presenting his findings at the 2018 Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) Law Conference in Accra on Thursday, 15 February 2018, Prof Atuguba explained that the research was based on hundred political cases in Ghana adding "it is not a coincidence".
“Judges were voting less according to who appointed them at the beginning of the Fourth republic in 1993. A number of reasons accounted for that. First, we had a new constitution and some of the cases were very clear. So a lot of them will give unanimous judgments, so whether you were appointed by an NDC government or NPP government, you joined the unanimous decision in saying that this provision of this law is contrary to the constitution. Then in the middle, somehow the Supreme Court lost its way after the first years and the judgments started becoming clearly on the lines of party appointments," he explained.
He continued: "Overall, the data reveals that 14 out of 22 NDC (National Democratic Congress) appointees, making up 64 percent of the party’s appointees to the Supreme Court have given judgments in favour of the NDC. The NPP (New Patriotic Party) was more successful with 13 of their 16 judges giving a majority judgment in their favour, so 81 percent consistency".
However, Justice Dotse who was also at the same programme maintains Prof Atuguba is entitled to his views. However, they will study the findings thoroughly.
“You are entitled to your views but I thought that when we meet, and this gathering is essentially Justices of the Superior Court and you come, we are assembled here, and you drum this into our ears. I think it is an insult of the highest order but as judges and academics I think we accept it, we will look at your entire presentation on context,” he noted.
Chief Justice, Sophia Akuffo also told Prof Atuguba to be cautious as that kind of research is foreign to Ghana.
“It is an American type of research that you have done...that’s fine, but please be careful what you are importing into our environment.
“They [Americans] are used to that, we are not. I don’t think there was a single judge who agreed with what you were saying,” she said.
Source: classfmonline.com
Disclaimer: Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. |
SHE AND DOTCHE ARE SIMPLY AFRAID OF THE TRUTH. THEY DON'T WANT GHANA TO KNOW THE TRUTH. IS CLEAR ALREADY, EVERY REASONABLE GHANAIAN KNOW ALL TRICKS THEY ARE USING. GHANAIAN HAVE SEEN WHAT IS GOING ON IN THE JUDICIARY. I AM SAYING AKUFO FAMILY SHOULD NOT DESTROY GHANA DEMOCRACY. CJ IS HANDLING JUDICIARY AS IF HER OWN FATHER'S PROPERTY, SHE'S JUST TOO PARTISAN FOR THAT SENSITIVE POSITION. WE PAY THEIR SALARY WITH NUISANCE TAXES THEY IMPOSE ON US. DECEPTION OF THE HIGHEST ORDER BY SOPHIA AKUFO AND HER COHORTS. IS NOT HER ALONE, THEY ARE ALL DICTATORS, SHE AND THE SPEAKER OF PARLIAMENT. DICTATOR! DICTATOR!!DICTATOR!!! INSULT TO OUR DEMOCRACY, INSULT TO FREE SPEECH, INSULT TO PURE ACADEMIC RESEARCH.INSULT TO DEVELOPMENT IN GHANA...
He is not the son of justice atuguba,but he is the nephew.In the African setting he is the "son".
Son of who ever is immaterial. The guy is simply telling the truth. Thumps up Prof
Eric, The professor in question is the son of Justic Atuguba who presided over the election petition in 2012. Thank you.
Ghanaian judges purport to judge truthfully and insult with ***barred word*** abandon yet they can’t take the murky TRUTH about their trade when it’s shown them in empirically factual truth!!! LIVE WITH IT AND LEARN SOME HUMILITY!!
This research is very true. This judges take political line in most cases and also give ruling based on what the masses are saying on the street.
The response from the CJ is shocking. She has never done published research or what? The guy has done research based on hard verifiable data and the analysis and results are what he is sharing with you people. The results can be uncomfortable but that is what the data suggests. Where did the CJ have her education? What does she mean by it is an American type of research? Would any other type of research have produced different results using the same data? Is it because the results are damning or inaccurate? As Anas exposed there's massive corruption in the judicial and justice delivery system in this country and l would have questioned the results if they didn't come out this way. Instead of seizing this as an opportunity for judicial reforms you are there talking charrfv! You wanted him to alter the findings to convey a positive outcome just because you are the incumbent CJ. U are practicing democracy which is an American concept yet you don't like their research style. That's hypocritical! Well done,Prof Atuguba. That's a,Harvard-educated lawyer. If the CJ got her law education from Kibi Senior High that's her problem but the work done by Prof Atuguba is excellent and a reflection of reality. Learn to live with it!
Numbers don't lie. If Professor Raymond Atuguba has presented his finding, the first thing to do be criticizing or condemning the result is to find out if they can be replicated. If they are not replicated, then you condemn the findings else you ***barred word*** and put up with it. This is the reason why it is called statistics. Am I surprised by the results? No. We Ghanaians tend to vote according to party ties and so if the Judges are doing it, we shouldn't be surprised and it is how we were brought up. Th CJ should not condemn the Prof but rather find ways to curb this trend.
You see the response of the CJ and Dotse, she cant stand the truth. When this ame amn said Judges are corruot, he wass barred fromthe court till Anas Proved otherwise. The CJ is disturbed abou this findings how can america be ok but we cant. Corrupt as she is
The presentation reflect the truth about how judges pay their masters. They hate it when people tell them the truth. Judges are the most corrupt people on earth. How can a chief justice say the research was done the American way and that is alien to Ghana. Because of the privileges they enjoy so everybody is afraid to tell them the truth. Gradually, we are waking up. Thank God we are getting there. One day!