Chief Justice on Death Bed?

By Kofi Coomson

Accra - His lordship Mr. Justice Isaac Kobina is fighting for his life. The Ghanaian Chronicle has learnt that the learned Chief Justice collapsed at a conference in Malaysia and is now in critical condition in a private hospital in up market Earl's Court West London, Cromwell Hospital.

The Chief Justice is down with a major kidney condition,according to informed sources, though other less authentic but insistent sources are attributing a more dire sickness.

Even as his loyal wife spends all her time by his bedside in expectation of a miracle, intense movements within the portals of the Executive and the Judiciary have already broken out on who should succeed the 66-year old Supreme Court judge whose tenure has been marred by controversies and acrimony.

The flash point is the choice of successor and the mode of succession. By conventional wisdom and practice, the automatic choice would have been the acting Chief Justice, His Lordship Mr. Wiredu, E. K. He is the most senior at the bench, being the longest serving.

Wiredu has a reputation that makes him unpalatable for the powers that be and his judgements and record in cases where the government interest had been so evident had usually not found favour with the Executive.

He is recently reported to have thrown back a request for a legal opinion from the Executive with a comment that it should be sent to the Attorney General's office. The Judiciary should not be seen to be chummy with the Executive as the concept of separation of powers rightly espouses, according to one usually reliable insider.

Chronicle gathers that even as he battles death, polite pressure is being applied to Justice Abban to resign on his sick bed so that the President will then have a free hand to exercise his constitutional powers - appoint a new Chief Justice in consultation with the Council of State and with the approval of Parliament. (Article 144(1) of the 1992 Constitution.]

If, God forbid, Justice Abban does not return, it will be a major disaster if the acting Chief Justice, the most senior amongst the current panel of 10 judges, does not get the position. The current thinking is that it will quite simply be indefensible and will rupture the already dodgy reputation of the Supreme Court. However the constitution does not prohibit the President from going ahead tto smash convention and appoint someone else.

There are 10 Supreme court judges now: Justices Ampiah, Atubugah, Bamford- Addo, Kpegah, Acquah, Adjabeng, Wiredu, Akuffo and Abban Judicial sources told The Chronicle that the name of Her Lordship Ms. Sophia Akuffo has been mentioned though it has also attracted opposing refrains from some of the judges who view her, rightly though, as one with virtually no experience in real practice at the bench or the bar.

Ms. Akuffo, a single parent, however, has a rich educational background and fine analytical mind, having graduated from the famous Harvard Law School, but her links with the Executive are also a source of snide comments. Ms. Akuffo actually holds a position in the Executive, being Chairperson of the Ghana Civil Aviation.

Since her famous comments : Truth is no defence in contempt case in the Republic Versus Mensah Bonsu-Free Press case (but legally correct) one other senior female judge who could have featured has not been heard from or seen in public view, Mrs. Joyce Bamford Addo, ex-wife of the late General Addo of the Council of State. The gender activists see her as more exposed and experienced than Her Lordship Sophia Akuffo, who is perceived as the favourite of the Executive.

Though Mr. Justice F.Y Kpegah espouses views that appear to show where his leanings are (he is reported to have shared the same chambers with Mr. Obed Asamoah, the Minister of Justice) one surprise opinion expressed by a practising lawyer over the weekend is that Kpegah is conscious that his judgements will be read tomorrow and cited. He cannot be taken for granted by the executive.

The jury is already out on the legacy of Justice Abban, and the verdict is damning. Since the incoherent accounts of display of heroism during the late Head of State General Kutu Acheampong's Unigov experiment, plus reports of his perspicacity and erudition in law, through his brilliance as a judge in Seychelles from where he was plucked by the President, the Chief of Dawurampong may now be saddled with an irredeemable epitaph that resonates with scandal - PAGE 28. (Re: The Mensah Bonsu /Free Press case).