The Executive Secretary of the Constitution Review Commission, Dr. Raymond Atuguba says after years of association with the judiciary, he was convinced judges are corrupt.
Speaking at a roundtable discussion on the judiciary and Ghana’s justice system in Accra, organized by the National Commission for Civic Education as part of its annual constitution week, Dr Atuguba stressed that nobody can win him over that assertion.
“Between 1997 and 1999, I stayed in the house of a judge, and so there is nobody in Ghana who can convince me that judges are not corrupt,” he argued.
To buttress his claim, Dr Atuguba said, whilst living on the same compound with some of the judges, some of the people who attempted bribing some of the judges would mistakenly bring the bribes to their door.
“Immediately they mention the title of the case, then you knew that, no, this is not a visitor coming to leave a gift, this a bribe for the judge next door.”
The Executive Secretary of the Constitution Review Commission said in his association with a man he described as an “upright judge”, he noticed on a number of occasions when the judge returned bribes and at times “I had to assist him to drive some of the people away”.
Dr Atuguba, who practiced as a lawyer for many years, reiterated: “So you cannot convince me that Ghanaians do not bribe their judges or that some of the judges do not take bribes.”
Joy News’ Sammy Darko who sat through the discussions reports that Dr. Atuguba made reference to various survey reports including the 2008 Afro Barometer report that suggested that half of Ghanaians believe that judges are corrupt to confirm his position.
According to the report, about 30% of the population only trust the judiciary, meaning that 70% do not trust the judiciary.
He also touched on corruption in the judicial process, accusing bailiffs of stealing and hiding dockets for reasons known to them.
Later in an interview with Joy News’ Dzifa Bampoh, Dr Atuguba implored the media to be holistic in their reportage and not focus on small segments when they attend programmes.
He believed his claims on corruption in the judiciary and among judges had been the conclusion of a broader foundation than the seemingly narrow and pointed focus had given his presentation, claiming it had taken the corruption “out of context”, and made the reportage a “disservice” to the public.
He argued that he had circulated a sheet of paper on the judicial service containing reports from various independent institutions about corruption in the judiciary, and had hoped that the reportage did not ignore “all of these substantive studies and to concentrate only on the illustrative story that the various speakers used to buttress their point”.
Dr Atubuga further stated: “In the Afro Barometer survey, it actually states that corruption has worsened, that is the public perception,” he said, explaining that with that background, there is the need to put the pieces together for an anecdotal evidence of the experiences with corruption in the courts. “This is the holistic story”, he said.
A legal practitioner with the Legal Resource Centre, Abraham Amaliba, accused his colleague lawyers of bribing judges to win cases.
He pointed out that corruption in Ghana is no longer a “perception but a reality”.
Mr Amaliba said the situation is so worrying to the extent that people feel one cannot win any case in court without bribing the trial judge.
He called on the judicial service to conduct a self-retrospection to purge themselves.
However, Mr Egbert Faibille Jnr., a lawyer and journalist, has rebuffed the assertion that there is corruption in the judiciary.
He therefore challenged his colleagues to “name and shame” those lawyers and judges they claimed are corrupt, urging the accusers to draw a clear line between perception and fact.
Egbert said it was a different thing to suspect the institution of corruption and on the other hand to claim to know its existence, saying it is cowardly of any trained lawyer not to stand up to defend their noble calling.
Play the attached audio for the Joy News report
Story by Isaac Essel/Myjoyonline.com/Ghana
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