Deputy Attorney-General Dr Justice Srem-Sai says the Ghana Bar Association’s selective interventions in political and judicial matters continue to fuel perceptions that its leadership is sympathetic to the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP).
Dr Srem-Sai, however, stopped short of directly accusing the professional body of political alignment, saying he could only hope that the perception was not reflective of the GBA’s actual position.
Asked whether he believed the GBA was politically aligned with the NPP, he said: “We hope they are not. It is our prayer that they are truly not.”
He said the concern was not simply about the GBA President, Efua Ghartey’s recent criticism of Chief Justice Paul Baffoe-Bonnie, but what he described as a broader pattern in the association’s choice of issues on which to speak.
“The point we are making is that the perception or the reality seems to persist. They pick and choose as and when they want to criticise,” Dr Srem-Sai said.
“All their picking and choosing seem to align to a particular political party’s interests. That’s the issue.”
His comments follow criticism by Ms Ghartey of remarks made by the Chief Justice regarding the performance of state-owned enterprises under the current administration compared with the previous government.
The GBA President said the Chief Justice’s comments “left much to be desired”, adding to an ongoing public debate over the Judiciary’s role in political matters.
Dr Srem-Sai said the GBA’s intervention had to be considered within the wider context of how the association has responded to issues involving judicial officers.
He pointed to comments by members of Parliament’s Minority in defence of the GBA during the controversy as another factor contributing to the perception of an association with the NPP.
“The very fact that they are even comparing the Chief Justice with the Ghana Bar Association and accusing the Chief Justice of being an NDC Chief Justice is an admission that they are aligned somehow with the Ghana Bar Association,” he stated.
The Deputy Attorney-General stressed that he was not making a definitive declaration that the GBA was politically aligned with the NPP.
Rather, he said, the government’s concern was the persistence of a perception that the association’s public interventions appear to coincide with the interests of one political side.
Dr Srem-Sai maintained that the credibility of the GBA as a professional body depends not only on its willingness to criticise public officials but also on ensuring that such criticism is seen as consistent, impartial and independent of partisan considerations.
He said the association’s approach to public controversies would continue to attract scrutiny if its interventions appeared selective or disproportionately focused on issues involving particular political interests.
