A former Attorney General and Member of Parliament for Sekondi, Papa Owusu Ankomah, has advised the Judicial Council to reexamine the process of appointing judges.
He argues that the move would ensure that people with integrity are recruited for the bench and the judicial service.
His comment comes in the wake of startling revelations of bribery and corruption involving some judges captured in an investigative piece by journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas.
Some 22 lower court judges are currently serving a suspension placed on them by the Judicial Council, after they were captured in the said video, taking bribes to influence judgment.
[contextly_sidebar id=”wq44dGdGHDBsPwsDQ0xcmpQaLlDi9Bcz”]12 other high court judges have also been implicated and have been queried and are awaiting appropriate sanctions; together with over 80 judicial service staff, police and prisons officers, also believed to have played various roles in the bribery scandal.
In an interview with Citi News, the Member of Parliament for Sekondi in the Western Region, said say the move will ensure the recruitment of credible employees for the service.
“As Parliament, what we can do is to encourage the judiciary to proceed in accordance with the provisions of the constitution to investigate and deal with this matter; that’s the best we can do. And then of course at the committee level, we have a judiciary committee to engage the judiciary as to the processes for engaging people unto the bench and the assessments that are used even though it is the responsibility of the chief justice and the judicial council to do, so that as much as possible; the processes that are put in place will ensure that outstanding, upright and persons of integrity are recruited into the judiciary; that is the bench and the judicial service”.
Former President John Agyekum Kufuor and former head of the Commission of Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) have also advocated the need for a review of the process of appointing judges.
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By: Ebenezer Afanyi Dadzie/citifmonline.com/Ghana