The Minority in Ghana’s Parliament has renewed its opposition to the proposed return of public tribunals, urging President John Dramani Mahama not to sign the bill into law.
In his closing address before Parliament adjourned sine die last Friday, Minority Leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin called on the President to return the legislation and reconsider the advice of his own Constitutional Review Committee.
“The enactment of a bill to create district and regional tribunals creates a lot of apprehension in sections of our society,” Mr Afenyo-Markin said.
“We, the Minority, say to President Mahama: do not sign this bill. Send it back. Listen, for once, to your own committee. A tribunal built to be used against your opponents today can be turned on you tomorrow. Nobody wins that game. Only the law loses,” he added.
The Minority Leader said the bill formed part of a series of actions by the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) government that, in his view, could have serious consequences for Ghana’s justice system.
He cited the government’s handling of the June 29 flood disaster, military recruitment and the fight against galamsey as examples of what he described as broken promises.
Mr Afenyo-Markin acknowledged that Article 125 of the 1992 Constitution provides for citizen participation in justice through public tribunals, while Articles 142 and 143 provide for Regional Tribunals.
However, he said the same Constitution allowed the President to establish a Constitutional Review Committee, which had recommended the abolition of the tribunal system after examining the issue.
“Chaired by Professor H. Kwasi Prempeh, a man of real standing, the committee studied the very question of the tribunals, and in December last year, it reported to the President.
“Its advice was simple: expunge the tribunal system, replace it with ordinary courts,” Mr Afenyo-Markin said.
He said the committee’s recommendation had effectively advised the President to end the system, but accused the government’s parliamentary side of reopening the issue during a late-night sitting on Friday, 16 July.
“Instead, his side in Parliament forced it open, at midnight, on Friday the 16th of July, while most of Ghana slept.
This Minority refused to add our voice to that vote. We stood up.
We walked out. So history would have no doubt where we stood,” he said.
The Minority rejected the proposed legislation because, Mr Afenyo-Markin said, Ghana had travelled “this dangerous road before”.
He referred to the 1980s, when public and community tribunals were accused of serious human rights abuses and described as “kangaroo courts”.
Although the bill requires panel members to have high moral character, he said it also states that members “may or may not be lawyers”. The Minority believes this could allow people without legal training to decide serious fraud, tax and mining cases while receiving immunity for their decisions.
“Power, without training, wrapped in immunity, is not a small risk in a country with our history,” Mr Afenyo-Markin said.
He questioned what non-lawyers would do in such proceedings when even the Court of Appeal could find that High Court Judges had made errors in applying the law.
The Minority is also reviewing the government’s position paper on proposed constitutional amendments arising from the Constitutional Review Committee’s work.
“This is a serious and delicate matter, which we will study thoroughly with our national party and respond to properly at another time,” Mr Afenyo-Markin stated.
Despite previously describing the courts as “a timid or malleable judiciary”, he praised the Supreme Court for upholding the constitutionality of the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP), calling it “a safeguard for this nation”.
He expressed concern, however, about the court’s decision to uphold the Attorney General’s power to enter a nolle prosequi in cases being handled by the OSP.
“This government has a track record of using that very power to quietly end prosecutions that began before January 2025,” he said.
Mr Afenyo-Markin warned that the power must not protect politically connected people while being used against others, adding: “We will be watching.”
Summing up the Minority’s position during the parliamentary session, he said it had stood for those who died in June, opposed a tribunal system it viewed as retaliatory, defended press freedom and free speech, challenged galamsey and supported courts that applied the law equally to all Ghanaians, including the government.
He said the parliamentary walkout during the bill’s passage was intended to formally record the Minority’s rejection of a tribunal system it believes threatens judicial independence and the rule of law.
