‘Use your bastion of freedom, justice to protect citizens’
The 57th Legal Year Service has been held in Accra with a call on judges and lawyers to use their bastion of freedom and justice to protect the people from the arbitrary powers of the executive, the legislature and politicians.
Delivering the sermon at the service, a retired priest of the Anglican Diocese of Accra, Rev. Fr Professor, George Asare Ankra-Badu, said the winner-takes-all political culture in the country was accompanied by attempts by the winners to control all the arms of government.
“You are protected”
“I am, therefore, hinting you that people in authority will, willy-nilly, rattle your resolve to walk in your integrity,” he stated.
Rev. Fr. Prof. Ankra-Badu urged members of the Bench and the Bar not to be terrified from upholding their integrity since God was with them in standing up to righteousness and justice which were foundations of God’s throne.
"Our Constitution protects you and guarantees your independence. Moreover, God is equally on your side, for he says in Jeremiah 1:19 that they will fight against you but will not overcome you, for I am with you and will rescue you", he encouraged members of the legal profession.
The Legal Year Service is held annually in the first week of October to usher members of the Bench and Bar into a new legal year.
The service was held at the Cathedral Church of the Most Holy Trinity in Accra on the theme; "Access to justice, integrity in justice delivery".
Present at the event were the Chief Justice, Mrs Justice Georgina Theodora Wood, the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Mrs Marietta Brew Appiah-Oppong and the President of the Ghana Bar Association, Nene Abayateye Amegatcher.
Uphold or pervert justice
In their daily activities as lawyers and judges, Rev. Fr. Prof. Ankra-Badu stated that they came across countless opportunities and authority for them to uphold or pervert justice which would be rewarded or punished.
Disregard for justice and righteousness by the ruling class, he said, in the past called for social disorder and bloody revolutions, citing the French and Russian revolutions.
Rev. Fr Prof. Badu said correcting misconceptions about the legal profession demanded a sustained and concerted efforts by its members to ensure that the legal system provided “an honest unimpeded and merited reward or punishment to all who appear before you”.
Meaningful attire
He told the members of the Bar that their gown signified an authority in the art of advocacy, while their wig denoted grey hair which was synonymous with wisdom and experience.
"Therefore, if you wear your wig to the court and you do not apply wisdom and righteousness in your submissions, then you are imposters because your attire and actions are dissonant or do not match", he stated.
Rev. Fr Prof. Ankra-Badu, who is also a Lecturer at the University of Ghana Medical School and the School of Medical Sciences, University of Cape Coast, said the wigs worn by members of the Bench were longer, therefore, they were expected to be figuratively wiser and more righteous than the members of the Bar.
“The judges red robe, girdle and white gloves indicated authority, truth and transparency respectively”, he explained, adding that they had a heavy responsibility to uphold the truth.
Touching on the service, he told the Judiciary to bear in mind that they were inviting God as a stakeholder in the adjudication of justice and God would protect them if they worked with integrity.
Writers email:
