Ghana Would Stand Still: Franklin Cudjoe Highlights Political Hypocrisy Over Judicial Commentary

IMANI Africa President Franklin Cudjoe has drawn national attention to perceived double standards in how political parties react to critical remarks made by Supreme Court justices.

Cudjoe reshared a social media post by Justice Setufe that revisited famous comments made by former Supreme Court Justice Jones Dotse, who once characterized the previous National Democratic Congress (NDC) government’s actions as a policy of “create, loot, and share.” The post noted that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) enthusiastically celebrated and cited Justice Dotse’s scathing assessment at the time because it targeted their political opponents.

The post then presented a hypothetical scenario involving current Supreme Court Justice Gabriel Pwamang, posing the question of how the NPP and its media allies would react if he made a similarly damning statement about the NPP’s past administration. “Imagine Justice Gabriel Pwamang making such a statement of the past NPP administration today,” the post remarked, predicting that “the whole of Ghana would have come to a standstill” due to public outrage and political backlash orchestrated by the NPP.

By highlighting this contrast, Cudjoe pointed to the ongoing issue of selective partisan outrage surrounding judicial commentary. While political parties eagerly weaponize critical remarks from judges when directed at their rivals, they routinely denounce similar comments as biased or politically motivated when targeted at themselves.

The debate underscores the fragile balance between judicial independence, political neutrality, and public trust in the judiciary. Analysts emphasize that political actors must apply consistent standards when evaluating public pronouncements by members of the bench, rather than filtering judicial commentary through a partisan lens.

https://x.com/gh_first_always/status/2109561172349665529?s=20

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