The Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, Dr Dominic A. Ayine has questioned the advocacy role of the Ghana Bar Association (GBA) in recent times and accused it of selectivity.

He said even though the Bar has played a crucial role in assisting the Supreme Court over the years to interpret and enforce the constitution over the years, “outside the courtroom, the advocacy of the Bar has lacked consistency.”

This, he said, has brought into question the Bar’s adherence to principle and cited its silence on the process of removing the former Chairman of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice, Lorretta Lamptey. “The Bar failed to speak about process,” he said.

Again, he said in 2017, a similar petition was filed for the removal of the chairman of the Electoral Commission, Mrs Charlotte Osei and her deputies from office, “the Bar saw no basis to speak out about compliance with due process,” he added.

Politicisation

Speaking at the 2025 annual conference of the Ghana Bar Association, which opened in Wa in the Upper West Region, Dr Ayine said the association, however, found its voice when petitions based upon the same constitutionally defined proceedings were brought in respect of the removal from office of the former Chief Justice, Justice Gertrude Araba Torkornoo.

“The honest question we have to ask ourselves is what changed,” he asked.

He said that all three petitions touched and concerned office holders of the three constitutional bodies critical to the sustenance of the country’s democracy, and their independence guaranteed by the constitution, with all the occupants being women of significant repute and members of the bar association.

“The three committees established pursuant to Article 146 complied with the constitutional procedure to the letter, and yet the Bar found its voice only in relation to the third petition.

“Coincidentally, the voice of the Bar amplified the voice of the opposition,” he observed.

Apolitical

For him, the association must speak out not to please government or opposition parties but to defend the rule of law, the independence of the judiciary, and the rights of ordinary citizens.

“The GBA is not merely a professional body. It is the moral compass of the legal fraternity and a key pillar in the construction of our constitutional democracy,” he said.

He said the authority of the profession depended on public confidence and therefore called on the practitioners to be “the conscience of the republic, fearless when government overreaches, impartial when opposition agitates, and always faithful to the sovereignty of the people and the constitution.”

He urged the BAR to reclaim its role as guardians of democracy, adding that “the voices of lawyers must not fall silent when constitutionalism is under threat, whether from the executive, the legislator, from political parties or even from within us.”

Discipline

He said, therefore, the need to renew the face of the profession and strengthen ethical discipline among members of the association as “a few errant lawyers can tarnish the credibility of the entire bar. The Ghana Bar Association must be vigilant in holding us to the highest standards of integrity.”

The destiny of the country, according to the Attorney General, was tied to her legal profession and noted that if the practitioners faltered, it would have a rippling effect on the country and called on all lawyers to recommit themselves to the ideals of forebears: justice, integrity, freedom, and service.

“And let the Bar of Ghana remain, as it has always been, the living conscience of the nation,” he stated.

GBA president

However, in her address, the President of the GBA, Efua Ghartey, parried all criticisms against the association and defended its position on the removal of the CJ.

Delivering her address on the theme of the conference: “Sustaining the 4th Republican Constitutional Democracy: The Role of the Judiciary and the Legal Profession”, Mrs Ghartey acknowledged that the power of the removal of the CJ could be exercised under Article 146, but decried the process.

She said there were no clear and comprehensive regulations relating to matters under Article 146, and “in the absence of specific rules of procedure, the sketchy process potentially lends itself to arbitrariness and lack of fairness.”

She said the lack of an enactment for the removal of the 4th highest person in the nation should be a matter of concern to all.

“These rules should have been known to all and sundry before the commencement of the process as it greatly affected the standard to be met.

“It is an unfortunate precedent that lacks fairness, a situation that calls for redress if we are indeed custodians of justice,” she said

She said the constitution of the GBA enjoined the members to protect the independence of the Judiciary and this “is a duty the association does not take lightly, and from time immemorial, the Bar has fiercely performed this duty.”

Bold political steps

In her address, Justice Hafisata Amaleboba, a Justice of the Supreme Court, who represented the Acting Chief Justice, Justice Paul Baffoe-Bonnie, called on political leadership to take bold and far-reaching measures to curb the illegal mining menace.

She observed that illegal mining has polluted all the water bodies in the country, destroyed forests and farmlands and displaced people from the communities.

She said the menace has gotten worse as the measures being employed to combat it “seem half-hearted and unable to curb this menace, which is a threat to the country’s survival.”

She wondered how the nation could allow a few individuals connected to power and influence in society “hold the entire nation and its future to ransom for their benefit.

“And we cannot pretend not to know them in order to bring them to justice and rather, arrest, parade and prosecute those at the lowest rungs of the activity chain.

“Considering the unspeakable death, pain, and destruction that galamsey has brought to this country, I urge political leadership to take bold and far-reaching measures to bring this menace to a long overdue end,” she said.