“You have become a political stooge” – NPP slams Chief Justice over vacation trial warrants

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) has launched its fiercest attack yet on Chief Justice His Lordship Justice Paul Baffoe-Bonnie, accusing him of becoming a “political stooge” of government for issuing special warrants to conduct vacation trials targeting only NPP members.

In a statement released Tuesday, the NPP said the CJ’s decision to single out two High Courts for full criminal trials during the legal vacation was “unconvincing, legally unreasonable and revealing of the very partisan disposition it seeks to deny.”

According to the party, 29 courts are currently sitting as vacation courts across Ghana. The established practice is for these courts to handle only motions and urgent interlocutory applications, usually virtually, while substantive trials are put on hold until the legal term reopens.

“Yet out of these twenty-nine courts, only two have been singled out and granted special warrants to conduct full criminal trials requiring the physical appearance of accused persons and counsel,” the NPP said.

The two judges named are Justices Achibonga and Kocuvie-Tay.

“Every one of the affected cases is a prosecution of persons associated with the NPP,” the statement added.

“Why only these two courts, and why only these cases?” the NPP asked. “If the vacation can pause the trial of a murder suspect, why can it not pause the trial of political opponents of the government? This selective urgency shows that the object is not justice but the incarceration of NPP personalities.”

The party compared it to “the same indecent haste” used in the trial and conviction of Ashanti Regional Chairman Bernard Antwi Boasiako, known as Wontumi.

The NPP said it was more troubling that the Chief Justice ignored formal protests from the legal fraternity.

On 5th August 2026, lawyers for the accused including Messrs Zoe, Akyea & Co. and Messrs Dame & Partners wrote to the CJ informing him of their unavailability during vacation and requesting that the warrants be withdrawn.

Five days later, on 10th August 2026, the Ghana Bar Association also wrote to the Chief Justice, reminding him that vacation courts do not conduct trials, especially where counsel have given notice of unavailability.

“Yet the warrants stand, and the Chief Justice has instead gone public to defend the indefensible, treating the united voice of the Bar with such disdain,” the NPP stated.

The party cited an incident where one of the vacation trial judges gave an accused person a harsh ultimatum: get new counsel within days or cross-examine the prosecution witness yourself, or the witness will be permanently discharged.

“What happened today was not case management. It was the strangulation of the fair trial rights of a citizen,” the NPP said, referencing Article 19(2)(f) of the 1992 Constitution.

The NPP also questioned the legitimacy of the Chief Justice’s tenure, linking it to what it called “the unprecedented and contested removal of Chief Justice Gertrude Torkornoo.”

“His confirmation was pushed through over the objection and walkout of the Minority in Parliament. He is, in every practical sense, the product of a partisan route to office,” the party said.

“Even so, the NPP expected him to act with strict independence, as the Constitution demands. Instead, his conduct in facilitating these selective trials, in apparent concert with the Attorney-General’s agenda against NPP personalities, betrays that expectation.”

“The Judiciary must never become an annex of the Office of the Attorney-General,” the statement added.

The party is calling on the Chief Justice to: mmediately withdraw the vacation trial warrants; heed the Ghana Bar Association’s petition and restore settled vacation court practice and rescind the ultimatum issued to accused persons.

Citing Article 125(1), the NPP reminded the Chief Justice that “judicial power is held in trust for the people of Ghana” and that “retirement from office confers no immunity from that accountability. History, and where appropriate the law, will render its verdict.”

“We remain committed to the rule of law. We shall resist, by every lawful means, the weaponisation of the courts against our members and against any Ghanaian,” the NPP concluded.

Fiifi Malik

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