87% of Ghanaians Lose Faith in Judiciary: Justice Torkonoo Must Share the Blame - Barker-Vormawor

Accra, Ghana - 28 April, 2025 - Ghana's judiciary is facing a crisis of trust, with only 13% of citizens expressing confidence in the institution, according to a recent Afrobarometer survey.

Oliver Barker-Vormawor, a prominent activist, believes that Chief Justice Gertrude Torkornoo must take responsibility for the judiciary's woes, citing the people's verdict as reflected in polls showing 52% support for her removal.

In a statement on social media, Barker-Vormawor noted that the people's verdict, as reflected in polls showing 52% support for her removal, should be heard and taken seriously.

Barker-Vormawor emphasized that the judiciary's problems go beyond written decisions, citing issues like adjournments, judges' behavior, and abuse of power.

He asserted that the people's experience and perception of justice matter, and that the judiciary must be accountable to them.

Read the full statement from Barker-Vormawor below.

1. I’ve been following the discussions around Mussa Dankwah’s poll showing that over 52% of Ghanaians endorse the removal of the Chief Justice. Some believe it unhelpful. 

2. Allow me to share a few thoughts — they may be all over the place, but stay with me.

3. First, according to AfroBarometer, only 13% of Ghanaians say they trust the Judiciary. This is poll taken under Justice Torkornoo’s leadership. 13%!

4. Now, of course, not all the blame can be laid at her feet. But when trust in the judiciary collapses to such depths, does the Chief Justice have a case to answer? Absolutely. 

5. Maybe it doesn’t meet the threshold of “incompetence” that justifies impeachment — fair enough. But at the very least, it should occasion introspection, and yes, even resignation. The buck stops with the head.

6. We proclaim that ours is a constitutional democracy, and that justice is administered in the name of the people. Yet somehow, when the people deliver their verdict — when they tell us loudly that they no longer trust the courts — we dismiss it as noise? We tell them their voices don’t matter?

7. One of the gravest problems with our judiciary today is that many lawyers treat it merely as their place of work — their office. And so they assume that only their views matter when it comes to its reform.

8. Absolutely not.

9. The lawyer may move from one client to another — win or lose, collect a fee and move on. But it is the client — the ordinary Ghanaian — who comes seeking justice. When she doesn’t find it — whether because of unbearable costs, inefficiency, judicial bias, partisanship, corruption, or the petty power plays of some judges — it is the people who suffer most. It is their justice that is lost. Not the lawyer’s.

10. We do ourselves a great disservice when we casually dismiss the frustrations of litigants as the mere whining of sore losers. No — it’s not always sour grapes. Many times, it is a genuine cry from those for whom the promise of justice remains painfully unfulfilled.

11. The truth is: the written decisions judges deliver are only 10% of the experience of justice. The other 90% is how the system treats people — from the clerk’s desk to the courtroom bench. The incessant adjournments; judges talking down to lawyers and litigants; abuse of bails, search warrants and injunctions preventing demonstrations. The Anas goats your judges ate but for which no one took time to apologise to the people for. For all the times you gaslighted them.

12. All those consolidate over time. The people are not lay people. They are actually the ones bearing the scars of the inefficiency we call a justice system. 

13. How dare we say that the people’s experience, perception, and reality of justice do not matter?

14. If justice is truly administered in their name, then their verdict must be heard — and taken as a.  Cautionary tale. People are not supporting the removal of the Chief Justice because they have read the petitions. 

15. They are doing so because they need to hold someone accountable for the 13%. If not the head then who?

Shalom

Source: Lead News Online