Founding President of IMANI Africa, Franklin Cudjoe, has defended Chief Justice Paul Baffoe-Bonnie over comments he made about the performance of state institutions under the previous administration.

The Chief Justice made the comments during a working visit to the Mineral Income Investment Fund (MIIF) on Wednesday, September 2.

While commending the institution for what he described as its turnaround, the Chief Justice said some of the achievements being recorded under the current administration raised questions about the performance of state institutions in the past eight years.

The remarks sparked criticism from some quarters, with critics arguing that the reference to the past eight years governance of the Akufo-Addo administration carried a political undertone and could create an impression of judicial bias.

Reacting to this, New Patriotic Party (NPP) leading member Kofi Ofosu Nkansah criticised the Chief Justice, arguing that his remarks could be perceived as political and raise concerns about judicial impartiality.

However, the IMANI Africa boss argued that the Chief Justice, like any other citizen, has the right to express his views publicly on matters affecting the country.

“Is he not human? Is he not breathing the same air we both breathe? What makes him less qualified to express a view publicly about the astonishing level of decadence and massive incompetence with catastrophic and deadly outcomes?” Mr Cudjoe wrote in a social media post on Thursday, September 3.

He said the Chief Justice had been briefed about what he described as serious problems created under the previous administration and was entitled to express his reaction.

“It is not as if he goes about saying these hard truths every day or when he sits in court. He was on a working visit of public agencies and having been educated about the harrowing man-made evils certain damaging directors of the erstwhile administration curated, cultured and ingrained in the institutions, he was awestruck, felt surreal and then he spoke from his heart and his head,” he stated.

Mr Cudjoe further cited economic challenges associated with the previous administration, including the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP), Ghana’s junk credit ratings and difficulties accessing international capital markets, as examples of what he described as bad governance.

The policy analyst therefore urged critics to focus on the substance of the Chief Justice’s observations rather than questioning his right to speak publicly.

Meanwhile, on his part, legal practitioner and social commentator Professor Stephen Kwaku Asare, popularly known as Kwaku Azar, has urged the Chief Justice to exercise restraint in his public comments, arguing that the head of the Judiciary must avoid partisan political discourse.