WUAKU v. ATTORNEY-GENERAL & ANOR

After the overthrow of the Nkrumah regime, the judiciary came in for much criticism for the role it had played while the previous government was in power. It was said that it had departed from its traditional role as an independent arm of government and had become a willing tool of repression in the hands of the executive. It was also said that some of the appointments to the bench had been politically motivated in that persons with known sympathies for the regime had been favoured over those who exhibited an independent frame of mind. Worse still, it was said that some of the judges had become so depraved and demoralized that they habitually took bribes. The answer of the new administration was the wholesale dismissal of judges—cleaning the Augean stables, as it were—and appointing new ones to take their place. But it was soon realized that merely changing personnel would not be enough: what was required was a reappraisal of the role of the judge in the body-politic and the creation of the conditions necessary for the proper exercise of his functions. Among the measures proposed were that the judges should be well-paid so as to make them less open to manipulation and corrupt influences, and that they should be assured of a comfortable old age when they retire.

[p.397]

The Constitution, 1969 which was promulgated in 1969 sought to achieve these ends in two ways: first, by setting up a special body to determine the salaries of the judges and other public officers who needed to be protected from political interference, and, secondly, by providing, in the case of the judges, that those who had served for a certain number of years shall enjoy enhanced retiring awards. These provisions will be found in articles 52 and 117(2) and (4) of the Constitution, 1969. Under article 52(1) of the Constitution, 1969, the salaries, pension, gratuity and other allowances that should be paid to the judges and certain other public officers were to be “. . . determined by the President acting in consultation with the Council of State on the recommendations of a committee appointed . . . by the President acting in consultation with the Council of State.” Article 117(2)(a) of the Constitution, 1969 provided that a judge of the superior court of judicature who had attained the age of sixty years and retired after serving as a judge for ten years or more shall, in addition to receiving gratuity, “. . . be paid a pension which is equivalent to the salary he was entitled to imme