Dear Chief Justice,

Our country, Ghana’s motto is: Freedom and Justice and I don’t think the over 31million citizens of Ghana do understand this motto at all. Freedom and Justice? Though we joke a lot in Ghana yet to say there is Justice in Ghana is a mirage. When I see the picture of President Kwame Nkrumah standing on the podium at the Polo Grounds in Accra on that fateful 6th March,1957, telling the whole world that “At long last the battle is over, Ghana, your beloved country is free for ever” Yes, our forebears, laid down their lives to fight for our freedom from the imperialist colonial masters whose main preoccupation had always been to subject us to slavery, sustained physical and mental torture as well human degradation. You expect that having gained our independence, we were going to be free from all the shackles of subjugation, mentality degradation, being treated until then as if we were not part of God’s creation. Our fore fathers suffered and until 1957,every Black person did not have any form of liberty or freedom in the land today we call as Ghana.

Kwame Nkrumah’s declaration of independence in 1957 was therefore timely and the assurance that we were free. In Ghana today, we can all say with confidence that we are free to speak our mind on any situation that pertains to our lives. We have freedom of association, freedom to join any association, organisation, institution and as well as the freedom to join any religious bodies of one’s choice. The Ghanaian now has freedom but the purpose of my writeup is simple: We have freedom but the fact of the matter is that we do not have JUSTICE.

Freedom and Justice, Ghana’s Golden national motto.

Madam Chief Justice, what has happened to the Justice component of our motto? We live in a country where those who receive any form of Justice are those who are rich and powerful in the Ghanaian society. We have put a premium on Justice in Ghana and day by day almost every Ghanaian face some form of injustice in our country. The security agencies, the primary custodians of justice in Ghana, do not exist in the real terms. On paper we have the Ghana Police Service but the offering and execution of it depends on so many factors. Ever since our independence that the service was transformed from the Royal Colonial Police Force, to the Ghana Police Service, the Blackman that our First President, Kwame Nkrumah boosted that, “from this day forward, the Blackman would take their destinies into to their hands to demonstrate to the world that we are capable of ruling ourselves” has become a nightmare. On paper we have police service who work for the good of the rich, powerful and the politicians only.

Where is the Justice when the Courts are all there in name only? You hardly get any justice when you go to any of the few courts we go to seek redress when our rights have been infringed. As a nation we know how to talk all the good things but in reality, no official either in the Civil Service or the Public Service is prepared to offer us Justice when we need it. In the employment sector, workers are treated by these wicked inhumane employers like we are slaves or second class unwanted citizens in our own land. Workers are not paid on time, they do not have sick leave and in most cases they are not offered annual leave. Is it Justice when even government employees would work for years only to be paid only part of their wages and salaries for weeks or months and the rest is written off or put indefinitely on hold.

Ghanaians need justice and the Courts and the security agencies must work to deliver justice to everybody. We should not have two classes of Ghanaian citizens, that the rich and powerful and the ever present Ghanaian wicked politicians sit in the comfort of their homes and receive justice but 31million bulk of the population would in most cases have to sell all they have to seek justice. Justice is enshrined in our constitution and the framers of it chose the Chief Justice to make sure that even the foetal in the womb receives justice. Let your institutions rise up and uphold the tenents of the constitution.

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