Senior Presidential Advisor and Senior Presidential Aide to President John Dramani Mahama, Joyce Bawah Mogtari, has weighed in on the controversies and back-and-forth linked to legal vacation and Judges working during this time.

Her comments come on the back of a petition dated August 10 addressed to the Chief Justice from the GBA arguing that Vacation Courts were established by convention to deal with emergencies and interlocutory matters only, not full criminal trials.

The President of the GBA, Efua Ghartey, wrote: “By convention over the years, certain courts have been designated as Vacation Courts to handle any emergencies arising during the vacation, usually interlocutory matters and never trials.”

The Association stressed that forcing lawyers to appear for substantive trials during vacation undermines the purpose of the recess, which is meant for rest and administrative work.

Reacting to the letter, the Presidential Aide, in a Facebook post shared on August 12, Wednesday, described the content of the letter as “very disrespectfully disturbing”, citing attempts by the GBA to undermine the authority of the Chief Justice.

Difficult for me not to read ulterior motives in the #GBA’s letter to the Right Honourable Chief Justice.It sounds almost like an affront to the administrative authority of the Chief Justice. For the longest time, we have almost always had vacationing judges sitting during the legal vacation.

To expedite cases and to reduce the caseload. Why would the #GBA want to needlessly undermine the work of the Chief Justice, and to do so in such a public manner also sounds very disrespectfully disturbing”.

CJ reject, Adu-Boahen, Wahab lawyers' petition on legal vacation

Chief Justice Paul Baffoe-Bonnie rejected a request by lawyers for former National Signals Bureau (NSB) Director-General Kwabena Adu-Boahen and former National Food and Buffer Stock Company (NAFCO) Chief Executive Officer Hanan Abdul-Wahab to defer proceedings in their cases until the end of the legal vacation.

The decision follows separate petitions submitted to the Chief Justice on August 5 by lawyers for the two accused persons, challenging the authorisation for the judges handling the cases to sit during the judicial recess.

The defence teams, led by Samuel Atta Akyea for Adu-Boahen and former Attorney-General Godfred Yeboah Dame for Abdul-Wahab, argued that the decision to continue substantive criminal proceedings during the legal vacation was inconsistent with established judicial practice.

In their petitions, the lawyers maintained that judges authorised to sit during the legal vacation are traditionally permitted to deal with motions and other urgent matters, rather than conduct substantive criminal trials.

Mr Dame, in particular, argued that Abdul-Wahab’s trial had not commenced before the legal vacation and therefore should not have been scheduled for hearing during the recess.

He contended that the decision to authorise the trial during the vacation, without the consent of the parties, was irregular and departed from the established practice governing court sittings during the legal break.

Mr Akyea raised similar objections in respect of Adu-Boahen’s case, arguing that no exceptional circumstances were warranting the continuation of the proceedings during the vacation.

The defence teams also informed the Chief Justice that members of their legal teams had made personal and professional arrangements for the vacation, with some having travelled outside the country before the decision to proceed with the cases was communicated.

They consequently asked that the proceedings be deferred until the courts resumed their normal sittings in October.

However, addressing the 2nd Quadrennial Delegates Congress of the Senior Staff Association of the Judicial Service on Tuesday, August 11, Chief Justice Baffoe-Bonnie rejected the request.

He explained that decisions on whether to adjourn a case were matters for the respective courts and could not be treated as administrative decisions to be determined by the legal vacation.

“Adjournments are judicial matters, not administrative decisions. It is not for lawyers to dictate when judges sit. Once a warrant has been issued for a judge to sit during the legal vacation, that judge has full authority to manage his court’s work,” the Chief Justice said