Justice Paul Baffoe-Bonnie, the Chief Justice of Ghana, has said the Supreme Court and the institution of chieftaincy, though different in form and source of authority, exist for t
The report indicates that justice Paul Baffoe-Bonnie, the Chief Justice of Ghana, has stated the Supreme Court and the institution of chieftaincy, though different in form and source of authority, exist for the same enduring purpose: to preserve justice, secure peace, and protect the dignity of every person.
It further notes that the Chief Justice made the remarks in Kumasi at a lecture held under the distinguished patronage of the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, as part of activities marking the 150th anniversary of the Supreme Court of Ghana.
The lecture was on the topic, “The Supreme Court and the Institution of Chieftaincy: The Past, Present and Future.”
He stated one institution spoke through the constitution and the other through custom, one drawing its authority from the Republic and the other from the deep wells of history, yet both met at the same point of purpose.
“Just as justice in an earlier era often sat under trees where truth was patiently sought, wrongs carefully weighed, and peace restored — not because one side had won, but because a community had been made whole again.”
The Chief Justice stated the forms had changed, but the calling had not, adding that it was at this meeting point that the Supreme Court and the institution of chieftaincy found each other.
Reflecting on the 150-year history of the Court, Justice Baffoe-Bonnie stated a seed was planted a century and a half ago by founders who could not have imagined the institution as it stood today, but who simply believed that justice deserved an institution that could outlast any single generation.
He stated successive generations had watered that seed with learning, strengthened it with courage, and shielded it through storms, until it grew into “a tree whose shade now stretches across our entire Republic.”
According to him, that those who nurtured the institution were honoured not because they were perfect, but because they understood that institutions must outlive individuals.
The Chief Justice stated every generation left its fingerprints on the institutions it inherited, with some strengthening them and others weakening them, noting that the current generation held both the privilege and the burden of stewardship, with a duty to preserve what must be preserved, reform what needed reform, and hand over a strong institution to the next generation.
He stated the institution of chieftaincy understood this truth perhaps better than most institutions, noting that, its strength had never rested in age alone, but in its ability to carry yesterday into tomorrow without letting yesterday intrude into tomorrow.
Justice Baffoe-Bonnie stated that question of remaining true to oneself while becoming better confronted the Judiciary today just as it confronted traditional authority, stressing that, the anniversary celebrations were not meant to admire how far the Court had come, but to serve as a reminder of how far it still had to go.
He stated the greatest chapter of the Supreme Court’s history must never be the one already written, but always the next one, describing the lecture as part of a continuing conversation between two ancient and respected institutions that had shaped the conscience of the nation
One, he said, was speaking through benches, the other through customary institutions with both answering the same human demand that justice must be stronger than power, and that authority must answer to principle.
