The Ghana Bar Association (GBA) has condemned comments made by Minority Leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin against a Circuit Court judge handling the case involving Bono Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party, Kwame Baffoe, popularly known as Abronye DC, describing the remarks as unprofessional and unethical.
Speaking on the matter, GBA Spokesperson Saviour Kudze said the conduct of the Minority Leader, who is also a senior lawyer and a chief, fell short of the standards expected of someone of his standing at the Bar.
“It is very unpalatable, unbecoming of a senior lawyer of his standing at the Bar, particularly so a senior lawyer who is privileged enough to be the Minority Leader of the Parliament of the Republic of Ghana, a lawyer who I am told is also a chief. Is this the kind of example he wants to give his constituents?” Kudze stated.
His comments follow remarks by Afenyo-Markin during a press conference on Sunday, May 17, where he criticised the judge over the continued remand of Abronye DC and declared that he would continue to disrespect him until he “upholds the law.”
The Minority Leader also questioned the competence of the judge and challenged him to cite him for contempt.
Reacting to the comments, Kudze said that if Afenyo-Markin believed the judge had acted outside the law, there were proper legal avenues available to challenge the decision instead of attacking the judge publicly.
“As a lawyer, if his complaint is that a judge has acted in a way according to him not within the ambit of the law, this is not the way I think that he should go, especially somebody like him,” he said.
“My thinking is that the appellate system is not there for fun. If the judge didn’t act within his jurisdiction, he knew what to do. He shouldn’t go to the press, not at all.”
The GBA spokesperson further accused the Minority Leader of violating professional ethics by questioning the competence and qualifications of the judge in public.
“We are disappointed, and he has acted very unprofessionally and unethically because, per our etiquette rules, we don’t do things like this by attacking the qualifications or competence of a judge,” Kudze added.
The controversy follows a growing public debate over the remand of Abronye DC, who is facing investigations over alleged misinformation and offensive public statements.
