Former Special Prosecutor Martin Amidu has condemned the Chief Justice, Gerturde Torkornoo over the recent closure of courts in the Upper East Region over security concerns in Bawku and its environs.
In a statement issued on Sunday, November 10, 2024, he argued that the Chief Justice’s handling of the situation demonstrates her limited understanding of Ghana’s geography and history.
“The conduct of the Chief Justice in closing those courts on spurious grounds demonstrated her lack of high moral character and proven integrity to have been entrusted with the exercise of the administrative and supervisory powers vested in her under Article 125 of the 1992 Constitution which enshrines, inter alia, that: ‘Justice emanates from the people and shall be administered in the name of the Republic by the judiciary which shall be independent and subject only to this Constitution.’
“A Chief Justice of any country who does not know the history and geography of her country and acts discriminatorily, unfairly, and without candour in the performance of her administrative and supervisory functions is clearly unfit to be the head of the administration of an independent judiciary,” portions of the statement indicated.
Martin Amidu noted that the Chief Justice’s decision extended to courts which were not even close to Bawku.
“Her decision included courts in locations like Bolgatanga, Zebilla, and Garu, which Amidu argued were neither geographically close to Bawku nor relevant to the security advisories,” he noted.
He further challenged the rationale behind the closures, questioning why similar measures were not applied in other regions with similar security concerns.
“The website of the Ministry of the Interior, where I was once also the Minister, shows that between the end of September 2024 and the end of October 2024, the Minister for the Interior imposed curfews on ten towns and their environs.
“In almost each case the curfew narrative was similar and as having been done on the advice of the Regional Security Council. I am not aware that the Chief Justice closed down the courts in those townships and their environs as a result of the curfew declarations let alone the closure of courts in their regional capitals as happened in the UER,” he stated.
The former Special Prosecutor further contended that the Chief Justice’s response to the backlash by ordering the reopening of four courts without explanation demonstrates a lack of transparency and accountability.
He described her actions as politically motivated, suggesting that her administrative decisions are driven by allegiance to the executive rather than the judiciary’s independence.
“The cumulative effect of the perceptions she has created in her administrative and supervisory functions might have been one of the reasons that contributed to the significant decline in the rating of the standing of the nation’s judiciary by the recent Mo Ibrahim Foundation report measuring indicators of judicial impartiality based on factors such as the independence of the courts, the autonomy of judges, and judicial appointments downwards by about 30%,” he noted.
He stressed the need for immediate reforms to restore public confidence in the judiciary, emphasising that only substantial changes could address the perceived bias within the current judicial system.
“The only proposal which in my considered view would salvage the wanton abuse of the administrative and supervisory powers vested in the Chief Justice under the 1992 Constitution is to curb those powers by a constitutional amendment enjoining that the empanelling of the justices of superior courts, their assessment for promotions, their transfers, selection for courses, and the exercise of other administrative and supervisory powers over the rights of the justices of the superior courts must be undertaken with the assistance of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to avoid capriciousness of this and future Chief Justices,” he noted.
Read the full statement below:
