Templars on the march!

I suspect many of our readers are intrigued by the caption above.

Please relax as you will grasp the essence of it by the time you finish reading.

The Templars were an organisation of devout Christian knights formed to protect Christian pilgrims to the Holy Land of Jerusalem from the rampaging Saracens.

Based in the Temple area of London, they lead the famous crusades to the Middle East. Lawyers came to occupy the Temple buildings after the abolition of the knights in 1312, constituting themselves into two legal societies — Inner Temple and Middle Temple.

These two societies, plus Lincoln’s Inn and Gray’s Inn, are what is generally called the Inns of Court – those associated with the law in mediaeval times.

The four Inns of the Court of London are now the professional institutions that have the power to call lawyers to the Bar and issue licences for practice.

GBA

The Annual General Conference of the Ghana Bar Association (GBA) is currently underway in Kumasi. Accordingly, I dedicate this week’s column to matters revolving around the role of the GBA in democratic development and, in particular, its role in the defence and upholding of justice.

In recent times, the GBA has come under attack from sections of the population for what is said to be the gradual decline of the influence of the organisation in national affairs.

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In times past, it was vocal in governance matters and was the watchdog for many citizens over successive governments. The organisation has been the bastion of freedom and justice and a thorn in the flesh of autocratic and undemocratic regimes.

The GBA was instrumental in opposing the Union Government concept of the Acheampong regime, which sought to limit democracy in Ghana.

The GBA has always been at the forefront of the fight against corruption over the years and was particularly vocal in fighting kalabule a generic term encompassing various corrupt practices.

The GBA were so involved in protecting our democracy that they even resisted the appointment of a Chief Justice by the President. In opposing the appointment of Justice I. K. Abban as Chief Justice, the GBA instituted a writ at the Supreme Court.

The GBA made its voice heard in a discrete number of issues, from governance to corruption, which endeared the Association to the hearts of Ghanaians.

Perception

The perception that the GBA has become a toothless bulldog gained ground when, in 2015, a retired Supreme Court Judge, Justice William Atuguba, opined that “the glorious days of the GBA, which stood up consistently and strongly for the rule of law, today same cannot be too readily said. There is a widespread perception that party politics has eaten deep into the ranks and clouded its potent militancy.”

Another Supreme Court Justice, Justice James Dotse, now retired, expressed similar sentiments when he addressed the Bar Conference at Ho in 2022.

Many civil society organisations have, in recent years, criticised the GBA for not making its voice heard in crucial national issues, especially when those issues had legal underpinnings.

Speech

It was against this backdrop of growing criticism of the docility of the GBA in pronouncing on important national and constitutional issues, that the outgoing President of the GBA, Yaw Boafo Esq, took to the stage to deliver his last conference speech as President and boy, oh boy, did he deliver!

In a riveting, no-holds-barred speech, which was at once both captivating and scathing, he spoke about virtually all the ills affecting our dear country.

He spoke about corruption in high places, the need for dialogue between the political parties in order to foster peace ahead of the upcoming elections, and the need for the Electoral Commission to be transparent in order to achieve credibility, which in turn will lead to the acceptance of all their processes.

He spoke about the abuse of scholarships by politicians, the need to invest in basic education, the evils of monetisation of politics etc. He also touched on a subject which has become uncompromisingly vexed and burdening ‒ galamsey.

Next week I will explore the content of his speech but now it’s time to explain the reference to the crusading Templars in the heading.

Yaw Boafo Esq was called to the Bar by the Society of Inner Temple. Having been called to the Bar myself by Inner Temple, I was very proud and decided, selfishly, to give the write-up a ‘Temple touch’. Adieu!

The writer is a lawyer.
E-mail: georgebshaw1@gmail.com