Professor Henrietta Mensah-Bonsu, a Justice of the Supreme Court nominee, has told the Appointments Committee of Parliament that she is a “fair minded” person and would be open-minded if she gets the nod to sit on the bench.
These virtues, she said would be her guiding principle as she migrates from academia to dispense justice at the highest court of the land.
Responding to questions before the Appointments Committee of Parliament, in Accra yesterday, the renowned law lecturer said she would not allow her personal feelings and emotions to intrude her work at the apex court if approved.
“Generally speaking, I’m a fair minded person and I keep an open mind about people and I’m broad minded enough to accept ideas if it turns out that the ideas are well accepted,” Prof. Mensah-Bonsu said.
In the view of the nominee, in as much as judges must dispense justice without fear or favour, it was important they did so by protecting the vulnerable against the might of the state in their work.
Prof. Mensah-Bonsu said “when you are dealing with justice, the people in your hands are vulnerable and so you must understand that they are individuals facing the might of the state.”
Therefore, you must not take up any personal feelings that will prejudice their case. You have to be clinical about it and that is what we try to teach students every time; that in applying the law, you cannot form an emotional bond and do the wrong thing.”
She promised that “without fear or favour, affection or I’ll-will, I intend to be clinical about it as possible so that [my] personal feelings don’t intrude,” Prof. Mensah-Bonsu stressed.
On the need to protect state institutions like the Court and Parliament, the former Director at the Legon Centre for International Affairs and Diplomacy, said any attack on those institutions is an attack on the state.
“The institutions of state have to be protected against conducts that undermine their standings because they exist for the general good of the country. It is a subvention of the general good when the institutions are attacked such that their purpose and work are undermined,” she said.
Prof. Mensah-Bonsu noted that the court for instance was the last hope of the citizenry, and, therefore, “it is not good for people to undermine the efficacy of the judicial system.”
Running the institutions down, she said, erodes the confidence in them which does not auger well for the country.
