Former Executive Vice President of Unilever Ghana and Nigeria, Yaw Nsarkoh, has called on Ghanaians to protect the Judiciary from partisan capture, warning that declining public confidence in the courts threatens their role as a key safeguard of democracy.
He said the Judiciary represents the last institutional line of defence in a functioning democracy and urged citizens to ensure that political interests do not undermine its independence.
“The judicial process is the last institutional line of defence in a functioning democracy, I would like to argue. The people, all of us that is, must do all in their part to ensure that the judiciary does not succumb to partisan capture,” he said.
Mr Nsarkoh was speaking at JoyNews and Amalgam of Professionals event on Tuesday, October 20, where he cited data suggesting a significant decline in public trust in Ghana’s courts over the past two decades.
According to him, Afrobarometer’s long-term data show that the proportion of Ghanaians who trusted the courts fell from 61 per cent in 2002 to 38 per cent in 2022.
He also cited data indicating that 57 per cent of respondents believed judges were influenced by political leaders, describing the figures as evidence of growing concerns about judicial independence.
“These are not partisan accusations. They are empirical signals from independent institutions that the judiciary’s installation has weakened,” he said.
Mr Nsarkoh argued that political practices under successive governments had reinforced perceptions of political influence over the Judiciary, particularly through presidential appointments to the Supreme Court.
He said that between 2017 and 2024, more than 70 per cent of the court’s members had been appointed by a single president, adding that the subsequent administration of President John Dramani Mahama had also embarked on its own judicial appointments.
He further noted that high-profile cases under the Fourth Republic, including election petitions, removal proceedings and constitutional interpretations, had often been perceived as aligning with partisan divisions.
According to him, reports by the Centre for Democratic Development Ghana (CDD-Ghana), the African Centre for Parliamentary Affairs (ACEPA) and the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative had raised concerns about persistent delays, unclear criteria for judicial promotions and court expansion during politically sensitive periods.
Mr Nsarkoh said these developments had contributed to public suspicion about the Judiciary and called for radical measures to address the concerns.
He also compared Ghana’s experience with judicial reforms in other countries, arguing that digitalisation, case-tracking systems and transparent appointment procedures could help strengthen public confidence in the courts.
“The cumulative effect is a public belief grounded in numbers rather than rhetoric, that Ghana’s judiciary has become structurally vulnerable to political imagination of the Fourth Republic,” he said.
He maintained that protecting judicial independence was essential to preserving public trust and ensuring that the courts could discharge their constitutional responsibilities without partisan interference.