Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Accra (Fides news Agency) – The Chief Justice of Ghana, Paul Baffoe-Bonnie, should exercise greater caution when making public statements, but there are no grounds to call for his resignation. This, in essence, is the position of the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference regarding the controversy sparked by remarks made by Baffoe-Bonnie on September 2, 2026, during working visits to the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) and the Minerals Income Investment Fund (MIIF).
The Chief Justice made a critical reference to the “last eight years” which, in Ghana’s political context, could reasonably be interpreted as a comparison between the current administration and the previous one. What might have been intended as an assessment of institutional performance therefore appeared, at least on the surface, to take on the character of a biased judgment, prompting strong criticism from the opposition.
In a statement signed on September 6 by its President, Msgr. Matthew Kwasi Gyamfi, Bishop of Sunyani, the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference stressed that “the independence of the judiciary is not only a matter of actual impartiality; it also depends on the visible and unmistakable appearance of impartiality. A judge, and especially the head of the judiciary, must be, and must be seen to be, above partisan political struggles.”
“The Chief Justice, like any citizen, is entitled to his own convictions,” the Bishops said. “The question is not whether he may hold them, but whether his public conduct in office should ever create room for reasonable doubt about where he stands.”
The Bishops nevertheless believe that “calls for his resignation on this basis alone strike us as disproportionate to the offense,” adding that “the same standard of restraint must be asked of every public office holder, regardless of who occupies it or which party is in government.”
“We continue to hold the Judiciary, and all who serve the nation in public office, in our prayers, and we pray that God may grant our leaders the wisdom to serve truth, justice, and the unity of our common home,” the Bishops concluded.
(L.M.) (Fides News Agency, 8/9/2026)
