Chief Justice Urges Judges To Balance Bench Work And Personal Life

The Chief Justice of Ghana, His Lordship Justice Paul Baffoe-Bonnie, has urged judges and magistrates to maintain a healthy balance between their judicial duties and their lives beyond the Bench.

Speaking at the 45th Annual Conference of the Association of Magistrates and Judges of Ghana (AMJG) on the theme “Balance Beyond the Bench – Harmonising Duty, Justice and Life,” the Chief Justice said while the office demands restraint, discipline and distance, it must never require judicial officers to cease to be human.

According to him, he has in recent times run into some trouble in the office precisely because he allowed his humanity to overtake his official restraint.

"There have been occasions when I have attended public events to honour close friends and relatives and others when in my capacity as chair of the council for legal education and training I have undertaken basis and engagements where perhaps the safer cause would have been to remain behind the walls of the office," Justice Baffoe-Bonnie recounted.

He said those experiences, which sometimes drew noises, some bordering on mischief, have rather reinforced his thinking that judicial officers must never abandon their humanity simply because they have assumed high office.

"The road may require restraints, discipline and distance, but it must never require us to cease to be human. The challenge is not to choose between being a judge and being a person. It is to learn how to be both without allowing one to compromise the other," he stressed.

The Chief Justice noted that balance does not mean giving less to duty, but understanding that duty is better discharged by a person who is not permanently exhausted, isolated or consumed by the office.

"There is an old wisdom in the idea that one cannot pour from an empty vessel," he added.

Justice Baffoe-Bonnie further emphasized that judicial welfare and institutional support are critical to effective justice delivery, while reminding judges and magistrates that the privileges of office must be matched with discipline, diligence and responsibility.

He encouraged the Association to continue promoting a judicial culture where excellence and professionalism are balanced with wellbeing, family life and personal relationships.