<<Print>>

An Accra-based legal practitioner and a leading member of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Lawyer Chris Ackumey, who claims to have witnessed an instance where a judge was bribed has called on the judiciary to accept the criticism of bribery �and then carry on an institutional reform in order to make the judiciary a corrupt free institution�. Lawyers Dr Raymond Atuguba, David Annan, Abraham Amaliba and Larry Bimi have all been drawn before the General Legal Council for making unsubstantiated allegations of corruption against the judiciary. The four lawyers made the allegations at a round-table discussion on the Judiciary and Ghana�s justice system in Accra, organized by the National Commission for Civic Education as part of its annual constitution week. In a communiqu� signed by the Executive Council of the Judges and Magistrates Association on Tuesday, May 17th, the group expressed worry about increasing cases of what it says are unsubstantiated allegations of corruption against the Judiciary, and subsequently referred the four lawyers to the General Legal Council to substantiate their allegations of corruption. Following the referral, the Supreme Court declined to hear a case where one of the four lawyers was counsel; pending the determination of the investigations into the assertions by the four legal practitioners that judicial corruption in Ghana was no longer a perception but a reality. But all the lawyers have questioned the need to drag them before the council especially when they only re-echoed a phenomenon that everyone is already aware of. Lawyer Chris Ackumey tells Xfm 95.1 that he has evidence to prove that a judge in 2008 took a bribe of GHS 500 from four individuals; a situation he says is a clear indication that there is corruption in the judiciary. He expressed his readiness to provide the name of the corrupt judge when he is called upon, but adds that security should be provided for people who will name corrupt judges and the judges who will be named so that �we will have full evidence of the extent of the corruption in the judiciary and use it as a basis for cleaning the system�.