ARTICLE:Caught up in the whirlpool of judicial Corruption Scandal : Can the center of society and democracy hold?

Caught Up In The Whirlpool Of Judicial Corruption Scandal: Can The Center Of Society And Democracy Hold? A Wake Up Call
By B. Abraham (AB) Ananpansah
Corruption and its debilitating effects cut across all types of socio-economic and political systems and is a curse that afflicts many countries. It has become a major cause of concern throughout the world.Former US president, AL Gore did indeed,admit to the position that 'Corruption is universal'(Banks World, June 1999 Vol.2 No 6).In the words of A.J.P Taylor,"There is nothing more agreeable in life than to make peace with establishment and nothing more corrupting".
Corruption in any imagination can wholly distort and undermine the cause of justice in many parts of the world, denying victims and the accused basic human rights to fair trial whiles widening the poverty gap between the rich and the poor.Yes, corruption is widespread and a world phenomenon but the only qualification is that, it occurs more in some countries or continents than others. In Africa and for my purpose in Ghana,it has become nothing less than a blaspheme! Even laws, rules and regulation have failed in combating corruption with enforces and law makers turning out to be corrupt in themselves.
It is no longer news that Ghana has recently been hit by a popular corruption scandal expose' by the ace investigative journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas bringing to light the massive rot in the judiciary arm of government...
As mentioned in the book of Ph.D.V Chingo, "corruption can only be defined within a specific society and at a specific point in time".This cultural specific aspect of corruption is reflected in the division of so called black, white and grey corruption.Going by Chingo's assertion, permit me to define corruption by making reference to Archbishop Palmer-Buckel who in quoting from Transparency international sources, stated that
"Corruption involves behaviour on the part of public officials in the public sector, whether politicians or civil servants, in which they improperly
and unlawfully enrich themselves or those close to them by misuse of public power entrusted to them" (Palmer - Buckle,1998).
Ever since the massive rot in the judiciary was exposed, its common to read in the papers and news catchy headline stories like the following:
Bribery scandal rocks judiciary - graphiconline.com.gh
Judicial scandal:Ajet - Nassam hands in official vehicles, resignation letter rejected-modernghana.com
Breaking:22 judges suspended - modernghana.com:9 September 2015 19:36 CET
-14 judges storm Supreme Court to stop disciplinary proceedings - myjoyonline.com:11th-September-2015,2:05:28 pm
-Trotro driver dresses like Anas to scare off corrupt police-peacefmonline.com
-Anas releases list of 'incorruptible' judges who refused to collect bribes - graphiconline.com.gh
-Former prez Rawlings wads into judicial Corruption Scandal saying indicted judges are motivated by greed just as some of our politicians-starfmonline.com and many more...
It is important to note that,what the undercover investigative journalist revealed about our demigods(Judges) may be shocking but obviously not new to Ghanaians. It's just a vindication of what we had long held as an opinion and complained about in fear to have been happening in the judiciary.Infact, appointed in 2003,Chief Justice Kingsley Acquah acknowledges speaking in Accra in November,2003, he accepted corruption is a national problem and urged that criticisms of judges should be seen as a means of correcting their mistakes and keeping corruption in check.
The 2005 Afrobarometer report on the performance of public institutions also revealed that the courts where one of the least trusted institutions, second to the police, with only a marginal increase in trust between 2002 and 2005. It must not also be lost on us that the level of corruption been exposed in the judiciary only reflect and mirrors the corruption in society as a whole, since, the law is a product of society and as Thomas Hobbes rightly put it,"it is not wisdom but authority that makes the law".This is probably the reason why a clean judiciary is central to the anti corruption fight.
The variation, however,between the corruption in the judiciary and the society in general which is why we should all be worried this day and hour about the recent massive corruption scandal in the legal officialdom is that corruption within that frame exposes our democracy to danger, allowing corrupt public officials and interest groups engaged in corrupt practices to function with the confidence that if exposed, their illicit acts will go unpunished.As clearly reiterated by Transparency international, "Where judicial Corruption occurs, the damage can be pervasive and extremely dangerous to reverse", because, it sends a blunt message to the people that corruption in this country is tolerated, since, the custodians of the law themselves are engaged in it.
It also has the tendency to undermine citizens moral, harm their job prospects and national development, infring upon fundamental human rights which is guaranteed under Chapter five of the 1992 fourth Republican constitution of Ghana,impede the quality of governance, endanger our sovereignty as a democratic country; and without a free,fair and independent judiciary, graft effectively becomes the new "rule of law", a situation which paves way for the goat thieves to be hanged whiles the real criminals that engage in dubious massive judgement debts and procurement losses but can dig deep into their pockets walk scout free by simply buying justice on a silver platter with their ill gotten money.
Before I dare into the debate on the possible causes of corruption in the judiciary,it is important to still underscore that amid the recent gloom that envelopes the judiciary today,I know it may be right and even justified to lament bitterly,since, its horrifying that we have to fight our own judges to clean up the environment.But that notwithstanding,the rest of us cannot pretend to be angels and I repeat for the purpose of emphasis,'We can't pretend to be angels'.
I can state with Vim and verve that we are all complicit when it comes to allegations of corruption - right from teachers, nurses, messengers,street hawkers ad infinitum that may engage in petty or survival corruption at the lower level to top level corruption (grand corruption) by top level public officers and politicians involving huge transactions as well as huge public procurement losses at the central, metropolitan, municipal, and district level of governance.
I agree with Ghana's first president when he emphatically stated that,"At long last, the battle has ended and now Ghana, our beloved country is free forever".Point well made, the battle indeed of political liberation is over but the unending battle against corruption, greed and selfishness has just begun.
From my painstaking research, I wish to now dare into the debate on the possible causes of corruption in the judiciary since identifying the causes is a starting point to devising strategies to fight the canker(corruption) and restore confidence in the judiciary.But in doing so, I will as much as practical be circumspect in order not to condescend or pass judgemental phrases.
The starting point of judicial Corruption is the mode and criteria of appointing and promoting judges.Chapter eleven Article 144 of the 1992 fourth Republican constitution of Ghana states that:(1) The Chief Justice shall be appointed by the president acting in consultation with the council state and with the approval of Paliament.
(2) The other Supreme Court Justices shall be appointed by the president acting on the advice of the judicial council, in consultation with the council of state and with the approval of Paliament....The list goes on and on to cover the rest of the members of the judiciary.
Upon critically reading the above article of the constitution, I ask myself a simple question,'Who is the Judiciary accountable to? And the simple answer is:the law and the general public it serves.With the above mode of appointment, is it not possible that the judiciary instead of being accountable to the law and the people will rather be under undue influence to respond to the executive and the judiciary branches in appointments, promotions, transfers and removals?There should be room for widening the mode of appointing judges which must be merit based and follow a clear published criteria.Maybe, considerations for an independent judiciary appointing body acting independent of the executive and judiciary will do the magic.Legal practitioners can also be involved in the appointment of judges.
Another cause of judicial Corruption that is closely linked with the above is the politicisation of the selection and promotion process of judges which predisposes judges as tools of "bigwigs" in government.This make judges susceptible to endorsing the whims of a particular regime for promotions.The flip side of this is those political regimes also turning out to endorse the corrupt practices of such judges leaving the ordinary man vulnerable to tricks and manipulations.
This is the reason why in our country, huge sums of monies belonging to the public are lost to judgement debts under clear and untainted evidence.We have also had instances where documented allegations of corruption in the judiciary have been swept under the carpet without any successful prosecution.For instance, a judge was reportedly bribed to issue a restraining order against a person seeking to establish a complaint against the Christ Apostolic Church.The judge at the time reportedly refused to sign her own document in order to frustrate the litigant from appealing her decision(Ghanaian chronicle (Ghana),21 June,2000).How about the case between the two high court judges, Boateng and Owusu (2006) and that of Justice Anthony ( 2004).There are several other documented instances where judges whose decisions are subject to appeal have abused their discretion to stay proceedings in order to deny litigants the opportunity to appeal.
There is no point running away from the fact that,the remuneration and conditions of service of judges is also to a large extend linked with their corruption. Low salaries does not attract qualified legal personnel or retain them.Poor conditions of service, unfair judicial pensions, lack of resources and underfunding coupled with the lack of security of tenure,low respect and prestige to compensate for low earnings make judges susceptible to corruption.We have had instances in Ghana, where judicial officers declared strike action(s) in demand for better conditions of service among others.This judges are humans and definitely need better salaries and conditions of service to support their families in a secure environment.Eventhough justice is not for sale, when this people are tempted with some few cash in the backdrop of harsh financial conditions, they are likely to sell out the cause of justice for the cash.
Another important fact worth noting and which has been a public concern is the lack of clear separation between the Attorney-General's Department and the ministry of justice.The mere fact that public prosecutors based on the general principles of the roman model are subject to the ministry of justice encourages the executive to interfere in the judiciary either via spoken order or written directives, hence the saying that, "The public prosecutor's department is the armed wing of the executive inside the judiciary".
Last but not least, is the prolonged formalism and time needed to arrive at judicial decisions and the technical jargons associated with the court system.Eventhough Ghana has chalked a lot of successes in this regard by adopting the computerised judicial system, a lot still need to be done, especially, in demystifying the complexities the history of the judicial institution has presented.Our justice system is inherited and the official language of justice is English.But the interesting question is,how many of us understand this language very well? We are constantly been confused day- in- day out with some legal jargons.
A situation which clearly impede the transparency in the judicial system and increase the lack of confidence and trust of the ordinary man like myself in the judiciary,since, it is perceived to be a place only for the rich and powerful!This case is clearly seen in a UNDP study of rural justice where it was found that people in poor villages were reluctant to engage with the formal legal system because they viewed the police and the courts as a luxury for the rich.They took their disputes instead to the local panchayat.
This technicalities also give self seeking judges the strategic leeway and monopoly to manipulate the law for their own selfish interest.Klitgaard(1998), in his work on controlling corruption intimated that corruption could be defined as, C=M+D-A, meaning corruption is likely to occur in a system where there is extreme monopoly over resources, plus the exercise of discretion, minus accountability.A clear and simplified judicial system devoid of monopoly of language and technical jargons is the way to go.
In a nutshell,I want to agree with the TI's Global Corruption Report(2007) on corruption and the judicial system that,"Decent working conditions, fair appointments, Accountability and Discipline, and Transparency are four policy positions that can prevent corruption in the judiciary".Whiles I humbly entreat the Chief Justice and the legal officialdom as well as all concerned to exercise professionalism in handling the Anas Aremeyaw Anas undercover of the massive corruption rot in the judiciary,in order to restore the confidence of the Ghanaian in the judiciary,I also wish to add that, judges are not angels, the fight against corruption must involve society as a whole - the private sector, government, individuals,Non Governmental Organizations ( NGOs), Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) among others....
Corruption is indeed worsening the situation of the poverty line and unjustifiably complicating life for the vulnerable masses and it's hight time we say NO to corruption.When I imagine the level of corruption by the very people entrusted with power to ensure distributional justice and I look back to reflect on the wailing of my poor mothers and fathers in my community struggling to make ends meet and pay school fees, I feel like shedding tears.
The time to wake up and fight the corrupt injustice in society is now! Thomas More was quoted saying,"I would uphold the law if for no other reason but to protect myself" and Kurt Cobain maintains that,"The duty of the youth is to challenge corruption".As a youth and a concerned citizen of mother Ghana,lets all join hands in the national interest and say a big NO to corruption!Join me again to say a big NO to corruption!
May God bless our homeland Ghana and make us bold to defend the cause of freedom and justice.
ANAN PANSAH, B ABRAHAM ( AB)
(Teacher, Radio Presenter and Student - University Of Ghana Business School)
Phone Number (s): 0241129910/0200704844