GBA President calls out Chief Justice over praise for state institutions

The President of the Ghana Bar Association (GBA) has criticised Chief Justice Paul Baffoe-Bonnie over comments commending state-owned enterprises under the current administration.

She made the statement during her address at the 2026 Ghana Bar Association Conference in Ada.

The GBA President said the recent commendation and comparison of a state institution by no less a person than the Chief Justice left much to be desired.

“We do not want to believe that what happened was a fulfilment of Matthew 12:34, that out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks,” she said.

The comments relate to remarks made by Chief Justice Baffoe-Bonnie during working visits to the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) and the Minerals Income Investment Fund (MIIF) on Wednesday, September 2, 2026.

At MIIF, the Chief Justice praised the institution’s performance and said developments there had left him wondering what Ghana had been doing over the past eight years.

“I must congratulate you… we wonder; some of us keep wondering what really we have been doing in the past eight years,” he said. At SSNIT, he contrasted current operations with previous plans to sell assets like the Labadi Beach Hotel.

The remarks have drawn mixed reactions. The Judicial Service said the observations were made in good faith and were not intended to undermine judicial independence.

However, civil society groups and faith-based organisations have raised concerns.

CDD-Ghana said such commentary creates a perception of political bias and risks breaching the Code of Conduct for Judges, while the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference said the Chief Justice could have commended the institutions without political comparisons.

By Edem Mensah-Tsotorm