Private legal practitioner Maurice Ampaw has criticised Chief Justice Paul Baffoe-Bonnie over his comments on the ongoing disagreement between the judiciary and the Ghana Bar Association (GBA) over court sittings during the legal vacation.

Ampaw, in an exclusive GhanaWeb interview on Tuesday, August 11, 2026, said the Chief Justice should have formally responded to the GBA’s concerns instead of addressing the matter at a public event.

What CJ Baffoe-Bonnie said about court sittings during legal vacation

“I am highly disappointed in the Chief Justice that a formal petition was brought to his office. And I'm expecting the Chief Justice to have respected the petition and allow his office, the Judicial Secretary, to respond to the petition than to choose a forum where he's addressing Judicial Senior Staff Association and then make comments to the effect that, indirectly, every lawyer can go to hell,” he said.

His comments follow remarks by the Chief Justice at the 2nd Quadrennial Delegates Congress of the Judicial Service on Tuesday, August 11, 2026.

The Chief Justice defended the decision to allow some cases to continue during the legal vacation, saying lawyers could make their own arrangements but could not determine when judges should sit.

He said the fact that a lawyer had chosen to go on vacation did not prevent a judge who was sitting from hearing a case.

“To write to the Chief Justice to say that the cases should be adjourned because of the legal vacation and you are not coming… You are a lawyer; you have your clients. If your clients decide to give you leave, well, go on leave, but you cannot say that there is a legal vacation and the judge who is actually sitting cannot do your case; that is not it,” the Chief Justice stated.

But Ampaw disagreed with the position, arguing that lawyers also have a right to rest during the legal vacation.

He said the issue was not simply about lawyers choosing to take leave but about established practices governing the legal profession and the courts.

“So this issue of lawyers trying to exercise their rights under the Legal Profession Act and then the Rules of Court Committee, backed by so many years of judicial practices, they are being denied the right to rest,” he argued.

Ampaw also pointed to the Chief Justice’s own experience as a lawyer, saying he had benefited from the legal vacation before becoming a judge.
“I can tell on authority that Justice Baffoe-Bonnie was a lawyer before he became a judge. He took advantage of those vacations. We know him. When he was a lawyer, he didn't complain,” he said.

He argued that the Chief Justice should have formally communicated his position to the GBA and the lawyers who raised the concerns.

“He took advantage of the legal vacation and also enjoyed some rest so therefore, it is unfair for him not to respond formally to the petition especially when the Ghana Bar Association have also written,” he added.

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Ampaw called for a formal response from the Chief Justice to bring clarity to the matter and prevent further disagreement between lawyers and the judiciary.

“There should be a way whereby the Chief Justice could allow formal communication on the petition to the Ghana Bar Association, to the petitioners, so at least there can be that formal communication,” he said.

MAG/VPO

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