Founding President of IMANI Africa, Franklin Cudjoe, has mounted a strong defence of Chief Justice Paul Baffoe-Bonnie over his recent public remarks, insisting that the head of the Judiciary was “100 percent right” and dismissing the backlash as driven by partisan interpretation.
Speaking on the Gold Morning Conversation, Cudjoe pushed back against calls for the Chief Justice to apologise or recuse himself from cases involving the previous administration following comments he made during visits to state institutions, including his reference to Ghana’s governance trajectory over the “past eight years.”
Cudjoe argued that referring to an eight-year period neither constitutes a constitutional violation nor necessarily amounts to a partisan political statement.
“Did he lie? Look, not in my dictionary, not in the facts and evidence before me. Why, has eight years been patented that it belongs to somebody or belongs to a particular party? What is this? I am totally in support of what the Chief Justice said, and I’m surprised that everybody’s running over their head because some people claim they are not happy,” Cudjoe stated.
The policy analyst further argued that the remarks were made during the Chief Justice’s administrative engagements with state institutions and not while presiding over a case in court. He maintained that holding judicial office does not completely prevent the Chief Justice from commenting on matters concerning public administration and the performance of state institutions.
Cudjoe also expressed concern that the political controversy surrounding the remarks had overshadowed what he considered the more substantive aspects of the Chief Justice’s message.
He criticised political commentators and institutions, including the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference, for focusing heavily on the perceived political implications of the remarks while paying insufficient attention to the Chief Justice’s comments on professionalism, customer service, institutional accountability and the responsibility of public officials to future generations.
“He went to the extent of saying that people should take their work seriously because you are not here for yourselves, you are here for posterity. Nobody is listening to those very significant, important comments about keeping good customer relations, which is one of the deficiencies in our public life,” Cudjoe said.
He argued that these observations addressed longstanding weaknesses in Ghana’s public sector and deserved greater attention than the political interpretation attached to the “past eight years” reference.
Cudjoe consequently maintained his support for the Chief Justice and welcomed his decision not to apologise for the remarks. He also disclosed plans to invite Baffoe-Bonnie to IMANI Africa after his retirement to speak more freely on issues concerning governance and national development.
STORY BY: Errah Salifu Razak
