Ghanaian lawyers join corruption war

Ghanaian lawyers under the aegis of the Ghana Bar Association (GBA) have expressed their concern over the recent reports of corruption involving judicial service personnel, vowing to do everything within their power to ensure that the good name and integrity of their profession is restored..

In the same vein, they are also pledging their solidarity with the incumbent Chief Justice, Mrs Justice Georgina Wood, and the Judicial Council in respect of measures they have already commenced to cleanse the nation’s judicial stables.

This conclusion is contained in a resolution that emanated from the annual conference of the GBA which was held in Kumasi recently.

Even at that the GBA which has clearly been shaken by continuing media reports on graft and malfeasance in Ghana’s temple of justice is insisting that there must now be a new and unblemished regime of integrity, accountability and equity in the administration of justice.

The association equally expressed concern over a regime of exorbitant filing fees, adding it risked making access to justice the preserve of the rich, leaving the most vulnerable in society without legal representation even in very critical instances. It therefore, called for a drastic downward review of the current fees.

The GBA equally requested the General Legal Council and the Judicial Council to speed up their efforts to improve the ethics for lawyers and judges.

Additionally, it called on the General Legal Council to put before Parliament, a new legislative instrument to give legal backing to the changes it had already advocated should be introduced in the nation’s legal education infrastructure.

The Ghana Bar Association  had held thea five-day annual conference in Kumasi to deliberate on issues affecting the association, the justice delivery system, the nation and the international community.

The theme was, ‘The rule of law, access to justice and sustainable development – The panacea for political and economic progress of a nation state’.

The conference was addressed by several distinguished guests including former President J.A, Kufuor; the Chief Justice, Mrs Justice Georgina Theodora Wood and the Deputy Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Dr Dominic Ayine.