The Member of Parliament for Ofoase-Ayirebi, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, has questioned Chief Justice Paul Baffoe-Bonnie’s visits to state-owned institutions, describing the development as unprecedented and bewildering.
According to the former Information Minister, he was surprised by the Chief Justice’s decision to tour institutions such as the Minerals Income Investment Fund (MIIF) and the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT), arguing that such engagements were unusual for the Judiciary.
Mr Nkrumah made the comments on Asempa FM’s Ekosiisen on Wednesday, September 2, following remarks by the Chief Justice praising the performance of MIIF and other public institutions under the current administration.
During a visit to MIIF earlier in the day, Justice Baffoe-Bonnie said some of the developments he had witnessed at state institutions had left him wondering what Ghana had been doing over the past eight years.
The Chief Justice said his earlier visit to SSNIT had also reinforced his impression that some public institutions were performing significantly better.
However, reacting to the development, Mr Oppong Nkrumah said he could not recall any instance in recent political history where a Chief Justice had embarked on official tours of state-owned enterprises.
“For all the years that I have followed politics and governance, I haven’t heard of such that the Chief Justice will be touring state-owned enterprises. I haven’t heard of that before,” he said.
He argued that the Judiciary, as an independent arm of government, traditionally maintains a certain distance from the activities of the Executive and Legislature.
“The Judiciary is supposed to be more or less independent. It’s an arm of government on its own; they don’t mingle with whether it’s the Legislature or the Executive,” he stated.
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Mr Nkrumah said it was an established practice for members of the Judiciary to avoid public engagements that could potentially draw them into political or governance matters.
“It is a well-known, established practice that the Judiciary doesn’t mingle, so you don’t see judges going around mingling in public,” he added.
The Ofoase-Ayirebi MP said he was therefore uncertain about the circumstances that warranted the Chief Justice’s tours of the state institutions.
He further noted that the Chief Justice had recently faced criticism over what some people perceived as his closeness to officials of the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC).
Mr Nkrumah argued that the official visits and subsequent comments on the performance of state institutions could deepen concerns about the Judiciary becoming involved in matters traditionally associated with the Executive.
“So, if upon that now there are official tours that are going on, it’s bewildering, and then I find it strange to hear some of these comments being made by the Judiciary,” he said.
He stressed that the Judiciary must remain independent and avoid being drawn into political and governance debates.
“My first reaction is that this is bewildering; it’s absolutely shocking. This is unprecedented. I haven’t seen that before, that the Judiciary will get involved at this level,” he added.
