The Judicial Council has dismissed two magistrates, a male and a female for acts of corruption. The two were sent packing on August 30 after a fact finding committee constituted by the Chief Justice, Georgina Wood, on August 29 confirmed that the two had indeed taken bribes from parties in cases they were presiding over. One of them, Linda Aklamanu was based at the Juvenile court in Accra while the other, whose name Joy News is yet to confirm, was based at Berekum in the Brong Ahafo Region. The investigations followed complaints by parties in the respective cases. The five-member committee which found the two guilty of the allegations was chaired by a High Court judge. “This report was submitted to the Judicial Council and the findings of improper conduct, gross misconduct [and] bribery were established against them,” Judicial Secretary, Justice Alex Poku-Acheampong told Joy News' Cyrus de-Graft Johnson. He said the action taken by the council is an indication that any wrongdoing within the Judicial Service would not be tolerated. He said the Judicial Council, in keeping with constitutional provisions as stipulated under Article 151, “decided to dismiss the magistrates” based on the committee's report. Mr Poku-Acheampong stressed: “Where there is an allegation of corruption, and there is evidence and it is proved as was done in this case… the administration, the Chief Justice and her team are ready to deal with corruption.” He also hinted that a High Court judge is currently standing trial for an alleged bribery. Dr Clement Apaak of the Forum for Governance and Justice speaking to Joy News described the development as “welcome news for those of us who have complained that indeed it is not a perception that there is corruption in our justice delivery system but that it was a reality”. Touching on the four lawyers who were blacklisted for stating that there is an endemic corruption within the judiciary, Dr Apaak, whose group has since criticised the action by the Judges and Magistrate Association of Ghana not to entertain the four lawyers, maintained that the action on the four “was a bit unfair and harsh”, explaining that they said what “we all know is obvious”. In commending the judiciary for sacking the two magistrates, Dr Apaak suggested: “A national immunity [must] be granted to all Ghanaian citizens who have been victims of any sort of judicial corruption to be able to come forward, and to file the complaints.” Vitus Azeem, Executive Director of Integrity Initiative, in the same vein said the gesture by the judiciary “is good news, but we expect this to just be the beginning, not only in the judiciary but in other sectors of society”. He said even though Ghana has enacted the Whistle Blowers law, most people, including lawyers are not confident to file complaints for fear of victimization. Vitus Azeem explained that “Lawyers are afraid of the consequences of reporting. One, you cannot be too sure that when you report the appropriate investigations would be taken and appropriate sanctions implemented.” He wondered how a lawyer would feel when a judge he or she reported for alleged corruption is exonerated, and that same judge is supposed to preside over a case he is involved in. In tackling corruption within the judiciary, he called for prompt action on reported cases, as well as the provision of protection or assurance for people who report judicial corruption.