The current judicial service bribery scandal, which has rocked the very foundations of Ghana’s third arm of government, has left many wondering why the implicated adjudicators have stained the garments of the independent state institution.
While some have argued that it could be out of sheer greed, others have questioned whether the conditions of service under which judges render their service to the nation could be a contributive factor for such massive corruption.
In the wake of the raging debate on the judicial corruption scandal, checks by Business Day has revealed that the judiciary are among the most well paid public servants with high court judges taking approximately one hundred and eight thousand cedis (GHS 108,000; equivalent to 1,080,000,000 and $27, 067) annually.
This figure, according to Business Day findings, does not include allowances on medical bills, fuel and other benefits they receive in their service to the nation.
Sources revealed that a high court judge earns close to nine thousand cedis (GHS 9,000) monthly bringing their annual salary to a whooping one hundred and eight thousand cedis (GHS 108,000); equivalent to one billion and eighty million old cedis.
In addition to their salaries, every judge is provided an official vehicle upon swearing in, with their medical bills, fuel and other allowances taken care of by the state.
Despite these attractive salary packages and other benefits offered judges, the latest expose’ by Anas Aremeyaw Anas has implicated several judges of Ghana’s high, circuit and district courts with some high court judges alleged to have taken $ 2,000, snails, plantains (in place of yams offered), goats and readily accepted a massage from an accused person’s niece to free the accused.
Salaries of judges
Judges Salary (rough estimates)
District magistrate 7,000
Circuit judge 8,000
High court 9,000
Background
A two year undercover work into corrupt practices within Ghana’s judiciary service by ace investigative journalist, Anas Aremeyaw Anas, has implicated 180 officials of the Judicial Service. The work included audio and video recordings of judges taking bribes and extorting money from litigants.
Thirty-four of the suspected culprits are said to be judges at the High, Circuit and District courts.
Though Anas has come under intense pressure not to air the video, the premier of the video titled “‘Ghana in the Eyes of God’ is scheduled to be shown on the 22nd of September 2015 at the Accra International conference center.
Reactions on the airing of the video have been mixed with those against the airing of the video insisting it would embarrass and cripple the judicial system. Those in support of the public airing, however, say it would rather weed out the bad lots and serve as a deterrent to anyone who intends to engage in corrupt practices in the service.
Petition
Anas is said to have petitioned President John Dramani Mahama, the Chief Justice and the Attorney General to begin processes to remove the judges found in the video to be taking bribes and extorting money from litigants.
Immunity
Meanwhile, the Attorney General is said to have granted Anas Aremeyaw Anas, immunity from prosecution and any civil action for his latest investigation that has uncovered massive corruption among judges.
The grant of immunity to Anas is per Section 19 of the Whistleblowers’ Act (Act 720), a legal practitioner, Ace Akomah, has told the media.
Tension
With the names of some judges, who sat on high- profile cases in the past, being identified in the scandal, tension is said to have built within the judicial service with some of the judges being said to have fallen sick suddenly with one suffering a mild stroke.
Others, who are reported to have tendered in their resignations are said to have been denied the opportunity to resign by the Chief Justice.
Corruption in the judiciary
The Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII) has for consecutive years cited the judiciary as one of the most corrupt institutions in Ghana.
The judiciary has also been on the corruption radar of the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) and recently, the Judgement Debt Commission’s report also attributed the cause of some judgement debt against the state to the judiciary.
