During the consultation stage in the work of the Presidential Emoluments Committee set up by President Akufo-Addo to review the salaries of Article 71 officeholders, the top brass of the Judiciary described parliamentarians and ministers as good-for-nothing.
In the final report of the Prof. Yaa Ntiamoah-Baidu Committee, Judges flaunted themselves as indispensable in the machinery of State while rubbishing the other arms of government – Executive and Judiciary – as not so essential.
They made these disparaging statements in an attempt to justify them being paid fat salaries instead of the other Article 71 Officeholders.
According to the gloating judges whose opinions were sampled while compiling the report, the State can survive without the Executive and the Legislature, but cannot survive without the Judiciary.
And based on this claim, they demanded that they are not only paid better but that the time-honoured statecraft tradition of making the pay grade of other institutions’ office holders analogous to that of the Judiciary should be stopped.
“We are a judiciary, you cannot do without; you can do without Parliament and ministers but not without the judiciary. They said that in the light of their unique constitutional role and the many restrictions on their personal lives, the emoluments of the superior court justices should not be determined in relation to the Executive or the Legislature,’’ the Prof. Baidu report said.
It added that according to the Justices, the Judiciary is a profession, while the others are not. “On that basis, the justices urged the Committee to consider decoupling the Judiciary from all other Article 71 Officeholders in terms of emoluments.”
The report also said the judges made more cogent arguments for their conditions of service to be improved. “On salaries, the Judiciary maintained that the Justices of the Superior courts in Ghana are among the least paid justices in Africa and the Commonwealth. Pay comparisons between Ghana and four (4) other countries namely Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa and the United Kingdom, showed that Justices in Ghana are the least paid.”
The judges urged the Committee to consider payment of Judicature Allowance to them to compensate them for not being allowed to practice. They also demanded an increase in their book/research allowance as they have no copyright for judgments they pass and are forced to buy copies of their own judgments.
They also said their work is risky both to themselves and their families because of the sentences they hand out to offenders. But they do not have adequate security especially after they retire.
They added that prohibition to them not to take up private work while on the bench and even when they retire makes it imperative for a special package to be arranged for them.
Source: WhatsupNews