Political activist and physician Dr Arthur Kobina Kennedy has criticised Chief Justice Paul Baffoe-Bonnie over comments he made during a visit to some state-owned institutions, arguing that such remarks are inappropriate for the head of Ghana’s Judiciary.

Dr Kennedy said the Chief Justice appeared to have strayed into political commentary when he praised the performance of some state-owned enterprises and questioned what Ghana had been doing over the previous eight years.

Speaking during a visit to the Minerals Income Investment Fund (MIIF) on Wednesday, September 2, the Chief Justice said he was impressed by what he had seen at the institution and what he had heard about the performance of other public entities.

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“I must congratulate you. I mean, you have done marvellously well. See, because sometimes when we hear the things that you have done, the things that some organisations are doing now, we wonder; some of us keep wondering what really we have been doing in the past eight years,” he said.

The Chief Justice also referred to a visit to the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) earlier that day, saying what he had heard there had further reinforced his impression of improved performance at some public institutions.

“We've just come back from SSNIT, we went to SSNIT this morning, and the kind of things that we heard, and we hear, we even heard before we went there, what we were told, if you compare that to the fact that not too long ago, SSNIT was preparing to sell its prized assets like Labadi Beach Hotel, you wonder how Ghana could have sunk so low,” he added.

‘You sounded like an NDC official’

Reacting to the comments, Dr Kennedy questioned the Chief Justice’s decision to tour state-owned enterprises and publicly assess their performance.

He said the remarks risked creating the impression that the head of the Judiciary was taking a political position.

“Mr Chief Justice is not in your place to be touring state-owned enterprises and making the remarks that you made. Sir, indeed you sounded like an NDC official,” he said.

Dr Kennedy argued that the Chief Justice should instead focus his attention on challenges within the Judiciary and areas where the institution could improve.

“Sir, if you are looking for things to do, there are a lot of things you can improve in our Judiciary,” he added.

Remarks trigger political controversy

The criticism comes amid growing political debate over the Chief Justice’s comments.

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) has called for his resignation, accusing him of making partisan political comments and questioning his neutrality as head of the Judiciary.

The governing National Democratic Congress (NDC), however, has rejected the demand.

NDC Deputy General Secretary Mustapha Gbande has argued that the Chief Justice has neither demonstrated affiliation with the party nor made comments that warrant his removal.

The controversy centres largely on the Chief Justice’s reference to “the past eight years” and his comparison of the performance of some state institutions with their previous state.

Critics argue that the remarks could be interpreted as an endorsement of the current administration’s performance, while supporters maintain that the Chief Justice was simply commenting on what he observed during his visits.