The Ghana Bar Association (GBA) has never exceeded the boundaries drawn by the Constitution, ex-Rector of the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA), Mr Kwaku Ansa-Asare, stated.
On TV3's Ghana Tonight on Monday, September 15, Mr Ansa-Asare dismissed allegations by the Attorney-General, Dr Dominic Ayine, that the Bar had adopted a partisan political position.
Mr Ansa-Asare described Dr Ayine's remarks as "unfortunate" after the Attorney-General spoke at the GBA's annual conference in Wa earlier the same day that the association had engaged in "inconsistent advocacy" and "selective engagement" with issues of the Constitution.
Dr Ayine had argued that the Bar had become credibility-challenged for not being impartial on central national issues, pointing to its muted response to the ousting of former Electoral Commission chairperson, Charlotte Osei, in comparison to its high-decibel protest at the removal of Chief Justice Gertrude Sackey Torkornoo.
But Mr Ansa-Asare disagreed that even though individual lawyers, as members of the GBA, might have submitted such petitions, the association itself had assumed an official partisan position.
The Bar is the Bar and we are the Bar. It is not its fault that it is an extension of the NDC, NPP or any other party," he said. "Whatever stands it takes are in good faith and within constitutional limits.
He admitted that some of the public statements made by the GBA had been contradictory but asserted that this was not political bias. He urged the Attorney-General to be "measured" in his public remarks, warning that these promised to stir up adverse opinion of the institution.
Mr Ansa-Asare also recalled previous criticisms he had made about the GBA statement at the time of the ouster of Justice Torkornoo, that it did not reflect the sentiments of the general membership. But he was adamant that intra-party differences were to be equated with partisanship.
"The Attorney-General should be aware of what goes into the pronouncements of the Bar. I assure you that whatever the Bar does is in good faith," he added further.
