‘Difficult not to read ulterior motives’ into GBA’s letter to Chief Justice – Joyce Bawah Mogtari

Senior Presidential Advisor and Senior Presidential Aide to President John Dramani Mahama, Joyce Bawah Mogtari, has questioned the Ghana Bar Association’s (GBA) position on proceedings during the legal vacation, arguing that the association’s public concerns could undermine the administrative authority of the Chief Justice. Ms Mogtari said the continued sitting of vacation courts was not a new practice and had historically been used to expedite cases and reduce the workload of the judiciary. “From the longest time we have almost always had vacation Judges sitting in the course of the legal vacation.

To expedite cases and to reduce the case load,” she said in a Facebook post on Wednesday, August 12. Her comments come after the GBA wrote to Chief Justice Paul Baffoe-Bonnie on Monday, August 10, raising concerns about directives requiring lawyers to appear before vacation courts despite having notified the courts of their unavailability. The association argued that the legal vacation, which runs from August 1 to September 30, is intended to provide judges, lawyers and judicial staff with a period of respite after the demanding court calendar.

Ms Mogtari, however, said she found it difficult not to perceive “ulterior motives” in the GBA’s letter, particularly because of the manner in which the concerns were presented. “It sounds almost like an affront to the administrative authority of the Chief Justice,” she wrote, questioning why the association would seek to publicly challenge the Chief Justice’s approach to managing court proceedings. She further described the GBA’s position as “needlessly” undermining the work of the Chief Justice and said the public nature of the disagreement was particularly troubling.

“Why would the #GBA want to needlessly undermine the work of the Chief Justice, and to do so in such a public manner also sounds very disrespectfully disturbing,” she added. In a Facebook post on Wednesday, August 12, Ms Mogtari said she found it difficult not to perceive “ulterior motives” in the GBA’s letter to Chief Justice Paul Baffoe-Bonnie, suggesting that the association’s position could be viewed as an affront to the administrative authority of the Chief Justice. “Difficult for me not to read ulterior motives in the #GBA’s letter to the Right Honorable Chief Justice.

Her comments follow a letter from the GBA to the Chief Justice on Monday, August 10, in which the association expressed concern over directives requiring lawyers to appear before Vacation Courts despite having indicated their unavailability. The GBA argued that the legal vacation, which runs from August 1 to September 30, is intended to provide judges, lawyers and judicial staff with a period of respite following the demanding court calendar. Madam Mogtari, however, defended the continued use of Vacation Courts, saying judges have historically sat during the legal vacation to help expedite cases and reduce the workload of the courts.

To expedite cases and to reduce the case load,” she said. She questioned why the GBA would publicly challenge the Chief Justice’s approach to managing the courts, describing the association’s decision to do so as “disrespectfully disturbing”.