President of IMANI Africa, Franklin Cudjoe, has rejected calls by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) for Chief Justice Paul Baffoe-Bonnie to retract comments the party considers partisan, arguing that the Chief Justice was expressing an opinion and had not broken any law.
According to Mr Cudjoe, the criticism of the Chief Justice over comments comparing the performance of the current administration with that of the previous government is misplaced.
“Which law has he broken?” Mr Cudjoe asked on Eyewitness News on Thursday, September 3, 2026.
His comments follow a demand by the NPP for the Chief Justice to retract what it describes as partisan political remarks or resign and formally join the National Democratic Congress (NDC).
The party’s position follows the circulation of a video in which Justice Baffoe-Bonnie is heard making comparative remarks about the performance of state institutions under the current NDC administration and the previous NPP government.
“Sometimes when we hear how well some state organisations are doing now, we wonder what we really have been doing in the past eight years,” the Chief Justice is heard saying in the video.
But Mr Cudjoe said the remarks should be understood in the context in which they were made, insisting that the Chief Justice was participating in a discussion on governance rather than making a pronouncement from the bench.
He explained that the Chief Justice had been presented with information and scenarios about the performance of state institutions and was responding to what he had heard.
“He wasn’t sitting in court making judgments on public enterprises. He was on a call together with others, and they were giving them scenarios,” he said.
Mr Cudjoe also criticised what he described as excessive politicisation of public discourse, arguing that political actors should focus on addressing governance challenges rather than turning every public comment into a partisan controversy.
He said the appropriate response to criticism should be to examine the problems confronting the country and provide solutions.
“All you should do is sit down, go back, look at all the problems you created, provide solutions. That’s what we are actually supposed to do,” he said.
Mr Cudjoe maintained that the Chief Justice’s comments, in his view, did not make him an “errant speaker” and should not be grounds for demanding his resignation.
