GBA, Judges should negotiate to find amicable solution – Martin Kpebu on legal vacation

Ghana Bar Association (GBA) president Martin Kpebu has called for negotiations between the GBA and the Association of Judges and Magistrates to resolve the ongoing dispute over the legal vacation. The dispute arose after the GBA urged Chief Justice Paul Baffoe-Bonnie to ensure judges adhere to the rules and traditions of the legal vacation.

However, Deputy Attorney General Dr Justice Srem-Sai argued that a lawyer's primary duty is to the client, meaning client interests should take precedence over a lawyer's desire to take a break. The disagreement intensified when the Chief Justice denied lawyers representing former National Signals Bureau Director-General Kwabena Adu-Boahen and former NAFCO CEO Hanan Abdul-Wahab permission to postpone their cases until after the legal vacation.

Lawyers, including former Attorney General Godfred Dame and former Defence Minister Samuel Atta Akyea, cited prior obligations during the vacation and requested case adjournments until October. Kpebu urged the parties to find an amicable solution rather than let the issue escalate into a public confrontation. He noted that the legal vacation is not guaranteed as a legal right under the law and proposed that the GBA directly engage the Association of Judges and Magistrates to establish a uniform arrangement for lawyers with cases before judges during the vacation.

Kpebu suggested that lawyers could work part of the two-and-a-half-month vacation while taking the remainder off, or reach individual agreements with judges to complete hearings in a shorter time frame.