A former Director of the Ghana School of Law, Kwaku Ansa-Asare, has waded into the ongoing controversy surrounding the petition for the removal of Ghana’s Chief Justice.
He argues that the country’s top judge erred by not first seeking the counsel of the Judicial Council.
Speaking on JoyNews’ PM Express on Wednesday, May 21, Ansa-Asare described the Chief Justice’s approach as a misstep.
“The Judicial Council has been established to aid successive Chief Justices to behave themselves,” he said.
“So if an incumbent Chief Justice has a problem, her first port of call should be to seek counsel. I don’t think that has been done.”
Read also: Suspended CJ Torkornoo files injunction against committee probing her removal
According to the seasoned legal educator, bypassing the Judicial Council and engaging in public and legal wrangling amounts to provoking the very process meant to ensure accountability.
“All these things that the Chief Justice and lawyers are doing simply amount to a provocation of the committee. Their acts are designed to provoke the members of the committee into doing things that will turn out to be unorthodox and unconstitutional,” he said.
Mr Ansa-Asare believes the entire impeachment process has become tainted by politics, eroding public trust in the judiciary and the rule of law.
[embedded content]“The CJ removal process now has been so engrossed in politics that the issues of transparency, legality and all that seem to oppose the Constitution,” he lamented.
Drawing on constitutional interpretation, he warned that democracy must always yield to constitutionalism.
“Article 125 says that even though citizens’ participation in the administration of justice must be encouraged, it is subject to the Constitution,” he explained.
“Kofi Kumado once said democracy is not phenomenal with constitutionalism. So, the two are different.”
He stressed that public officeholders, including judges, presidents, and even media practitioners, must constantly remind themselves that the Constitution is designed to keep all governance institutions in check.
“The Council of State aids the president to behave himself. In like manner, the Judicial Council should help the Chief Justice to behave herself,” he reiterated.
While declining to pass judgment on the merits of the petition for the Chief Justice’s removal, Mr Ansa-Asare was firm that the process must not be allowed to descend into political theatre.
“This is one of those instances where operators of the Constitution must remind themselves that they are subject to it,” he said.
He emphasised that certain constitutional expressions—especially where the Constitution uses “shall”—are binding and non-negotiable.
“When it says ‘shall’, then it’s ‘shall’. That is the clear language of Article 125 of the 1992 Constitution,” he pointed out.
For Kwaku Ansa-Asare, the current episode is a test of Ghana’s constitutional maturity.
“The Constitution creates governance institutions not just for show, but to help the people in those offices conduct themselves. That’s what has been ignored,” he said.
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