The Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference has issued a statement on the recent public remarks made by Chief Justice Paul Baffoe-Bonnie during his visits to the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) and the Minerals Income Investment Fund (MIIF) on 2 September 2026.
The Conference said it was offering its reflections not to inflame controversy, but to contribute calmly to the nation’s understanding of judicial ethics and public trust.
It noted that there is nothing improper in the Chief Justice visiting public institutions, familiarising himself with their operations, or commending genuine improvement. These institutions belong to the people of Ghana, and every citizen, including the Chief Justice, has a legitimate interest in seeing them run efficiently and accountably.
The difficulty, the Bishops said, lies not in the visits themselves, but in the political character that some of the Chief Justice’s remarks particularly his reference to the “past eight years” can reasonably be understood to have acquired. In Ghana’s national context, such a phrase is readily heard as a comparison between the present administration and its predecessor. What may have begun as a straightforward assessment of institutional performance thus took on, at least in appearance, the character of a partisan judgment.
The Conference noted that this concern had already been raised publicly, including by the Ghana Centre for Democratic Development, which cautioned that such remarks risk creating an impression of political endorsement and could weaken confidence in judicial impartiality. It also acknowledged the Judicial Service’s clarification that the Chief Justice’s observations were made in good faith, without intention to compromise judicial independence, and that he remains committed to the integrity of the Judiciary and equality before the law. The Bishops said they received that clarification in good faith.
Nevertheless, the Conference believes the episode raises a question that deserves the sober attention of the whole nation. The office of Chief Justice is not that of an ordinary public commentator. The courts may at any time be called upon to adjudicate disputes involving the Government, political parties, or public institutions, and citizens must be able to approach them without wondering whether the Chief Justice has, even inadvertently, aligned himself with one political era over another.
Judicial independence, the Bishops stressed, is not only a matter of actual impartiality; it also depends on the visible, unmistakable appearance of impartiality. A judge, and especially the head of the Judiciary, must be and must be seen to be above the partisan contest.
The Conference was clear that none of this amounts to a suggestion that the Chief Justice is partisan, or that the Judiciary has been compromised. Such conclusions would go well beyond the evidence available, and calls for his resignation on this basis alone strike the Bishops as disproportionate. The Chief Justice, like any citizen, is entitled to his own convictions. The question is not whether he may hold them, but whether his public conduct in office should ever create room for reasonable doubt about where he stands.
The Bishops respectfully suggested that the better course would have been to commend the achievements of SSNIT and MIIF on their own merits, encouraging continued efficiency, accountability, and service to the Ghanaian people, without setting one administration’s record against another’s. The same positive message could have been delivered without inviting the perception now at issue.
Finally, the Conference appealed to all sides to receive this moment as an occasion for reflection rather than an opportunity for partisan advantage. The governing party ought not to treat criticism of the Chief Justice as an attack on its own record, nor should the opposition treat his remarks as proof that the courts have been captured. The same standard of restraint must be asked of every public office holder, regardless of who occupies it or which party is in government.
The Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference said it continues to hold the Judiciary, and all who serve the nation in public office, in its prayers, and prays that God may grant the country’s leaders the wisdom to serve truth, justice, and the unity of the common home.
The statement was signed by Most Rev. Matthew Kwasi Gyamfi, Bishop of Sunyani and President of the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference, on Sunday, September 6, 2026.
