Lawyers ought to be defenders of Judiciary, not destructors – AG

The Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, Godfred Yeboah Dame has held that commentary by lawyers should be reflective of the integrity of the Judiciary as opposed to an attempt to discredit the justice administration system.

“Lawyers ought to be the loudest and strongest defenders of the independence, integrity and importance of the Judiciary, rather than serving as tools for its destruction,” he said.

Defending his argument, Mr. Dame observed that “the Judiciary is the last line of defence in every democracy. The history of this country has shown that the Judiciary is the only arm of government that survives an overthrow of the Constitution. Its indispensability to our lives. 

He was speaking at the opening of the 2022 Legal Year Bench, Bar and Faculty Conference, in Accra.

He argues that some lawyers leverage technology to spread false information, promote chaos, violence, and destabilisation of the country.

He particularly noted that certain lawyers often in their commentary on political cases use ‘poisoned and caustic attacks’ on judgments of the courts, even though they tend to be unjustified.

“Faced with adverse rulings, some lawyers go to the rather farcical extent of actually advocating for the abolition or scrapping of our courts. The most deplorable thing about such endeavour is that, many a time, their vicious comments are plainly wrong,” he said.

“I reiterate an admonition I gave to the Bar sometime ago, to be mindful of the age-old requirements of the profession in so far as ethics is concerned. Technology did not eradicate ethics. Neither did it render the need for ethical compliance any less important or necessary. Indeed, the advancement of technology and the speed at which information is disseminated, has increased the necessity for higher compliance with ethical standards at the Bar.”