Madina M.P Lawyer Sosu in Hot Waters as AMG Drags him to Disciplinary Committee of GLC- INSIDE STORY

The Association of Magistrates and Judges of Ghana (AMJG) says it has lodged a formal complaint against the Member of Parliament for Madina, Francis Xavier-Sosu, over recent comments he made, calling some judges in the country “Political Judges”.

In a statement issued by the Association Wednesday 16 February 2022, and signed by its president, Court of Appeal Judge, Justice Henry Kwofie, the AMJG said it notes “with grave concern and dismay the statement by Honourable Francis Xavier Sosu that there are Judges who he calls “Political Judges.

“This statement of the Honourable Sosu who is a Lawyer was made during an interview he granted after a demonstration and is available on social media and on various radio stations,” it added.

“The statement was to the effect that some Judges seek refuge and hide behind political parties and behave as “Political Judges” the AMJG said in their release.”

“He said if you make yourself a political Judge you will be treated politically and your tenure of office will run with the political party that you favour” the statement further noted.

AMJG indicated in their statement that it “finds this statement of Honourable Sosu against
Judges as unfortunate, reckless and misguided, coming as it is from a Member of Parliament and a Lawyer who should know better”.

The statement explained that “Judges do not determine which cases are filed or put before them for hearing”.

To that end, AMJG says it considers the statement of Honourable Francis Xavier Sosu, as “an attempt to intimidate Judges who are doing nothing other than their normal work”.

“The Association takes a serious view of the statement of Honourable Sosu and considers it very unprofessional from a lawyer and an unprovoked attack on the Judiciary”.

“Having regard to the seriousness which the AMJG takes this statement and its potential to do undue damage to the image of the Judiciary, the Association is lodging a formal complaint against Honourable Sosu to the General Legal Council immediately for his unprofessional statement and utterances which have the potential to tarnish the image of the Judiciary as a whole” the AMJG statement read.

Background

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) MP for the Madina Constituency, Francis-Xavier Sosu, hit back at the Ghana Bar Association’s (GBA) condemnation of some statements he made suggesting that judges were politically motivated in the discharge of their work.

The GBA in a statement Monday described as “unprofessional, unfortunate, irresponsible and distasteful”, Sosu’s comment that some judges have become political in the line of work and that such judges would be treated as such.

In response to the GBA’s statement, Sosu while condemning the association for what he described as its failure to safeguard the country’s democracy noted, “I stand by my statement any day, any time.”

“The statement was a conditional statement and no amounts of twists and turns will extricate judicial officers and judges who would allow themselves to become agents of political partisan agenda,” he added.

The GBA in its statement on Monday noted that per the 1992 Constitution judges were not elected into office and for that matter, their tenure of office was not tied to the tenure of the political regime under which judges were appointed.

But Sosu in his response expressed his disappointment in the leadership of the GBA, saying that the Association “has reduced itself to yet another useless institution of our democratic process in these days and times. Unfortunately, the leadership’s release shows the extent to which they are politically affiliated and bias as Leaders of the Bar Association.”

He further reiterated his statement, saying that, “in my respective view, partisan judges have no business being on the bench. If you are a judge with sympathies towards SAC or NPP or CPP or any known political party in Ghana and you allow yourself to be influenced in anyway for a political outcome, then you are not fit to be a judge.”