{"id":99532,"date":"2025-10-20T23:07:00","date_gmt":"2025-10-20T23:07:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=99532"},"modified":"2025-10-20T23:07:00","modified_gmt":"2025-10-20T23:07:00","slug":"misbehaviour-under-the-constitution-is-objective-not-opinion-says-thaddeus-sory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=99532","title":{"rendered":"Misbehaviour under the Constitution is objective, not opinion, says Thaddeus Sory"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n \t<\/i> Read Time:<\/span>2 Minute, 15 Second <\/div>\n\n <\/div>
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Legal practitioner and lecturer, Thaddeus Sory, has argued that under Ghana\u2019s Constitution, \u201cstated misbehaviour\u201d is an objective standard, not a subjective one. <\/p>\n

He said the framers of the Constitution intended it to be a compact guide that reflects the expectations of citizens rather than a rulebook spelling out every detail.<\/p>\n

Speaking on JoyNews\u2019 PM Express on Monday, October 20, Mr Sory explained that constitutional provisions like \u201cstated misbehaviour\u201d or \u201cincompetence\u201d must be interpreted through the lens of public expectation since justice emanates from the people.<\/p>\n

Read also: Mahama removes Chief Justice Gertrude Torkornoo on grounds of stated misbehaviour<\/p>\n

He said public confidence is central to the assessment of any judge or public officer. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf the Chief Justice gets drunk whilst in office, that\u2019s a stated misbehavior,\u201d he said, adding that such conduct undermines public trust even if not explicitly listed in the Constitution.<\/p>\n

Mr Sory argued that it is impossible to codify every conceivable act that could amount to misbehaviour. <\/p>\n

\u201cCan you set all of that out? That\u2019s not possible,\u201d he said, emphasising that the Constitution deliberately leaves room for interpretation based on evolving social standards.<\/p>\n

He explained that this is why the Constitution provides for a committee of inquiry composed partly of laypersons. <\/p>\n

\u201cJustice emanates from the people. If your Chief Justice does a particular type of thing, would you still have confidence in her as the person to lead the justice system?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n

The lawyer maintained that laypersons bring an essential perspective to such committees because they represent society\u2019s moral and ethical expectations. <\/p>\n

\u201cLeft to me alone, all of those people should be lay people,\u201d he said. \u201cWe, those involved in the justice system, judge ordinary men from whom justice emanates. If it affects us, let them also judge us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read also: CJ removal: Definition of \u2018stated misbehaviour\u2019 still unknown \u2013 Baffour Awuah<\/p>\n

Sory insisted that misbehaviour must be determined on a case-by-case basis, but that does not make the process arbitrary. \u201cIt has predictability,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cOnce you occupy an official position, the public can judge you by their expectations of fairness and accountability.\u201d<\/p>\n

He cautioned against attempts to overdefine or limit constitutional terms, noting that even older democracies still live with imperfect systems. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere are 200-year-old constitutions with the most atrocious provisions,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a constitution of a so-called democracy where a president can win an election not with the majority of votes, but with a minority \u2014 and they haven\u2019t complained.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sory concluded that in a democracy, accountability must always be measured by the public\u2019s sense of justice. <\/p>\n

\u201cAt the end of the day, everybody is accountable to society,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"MisbehaviourLegal practitioner and lecturer, Thaddeus Sory, has argued that under Ghana\u2019s Constitution, \u201cstated misbehavior\u201d is an objective standard, not a subjective one.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3850,1951,1883,10,9,10904,1519],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-99532","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-constitution","category-hp-news-1","category-national","category-politics","category-popular","category-stated-misbehaviour","category-thaddeus-sory"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99532","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=99532"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99532\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=99532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=99532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=99532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}