The Judicial Service of Ghana has moved to clarify the circumstances surrounding a visit by Chief Justice Paul Baffoe-Bonnie to the camp of the Black Stars in Canada.
In a press statement dated June 19, 2026, the Communications Department of the Judicial Service stated that the Chief Justice is currently on official vacation and that his trip to Canada was undertaken in his private capacity and entirely at his own expense.
According to the statement, the Chief Justice, “as a patriotic Ghanaian and keen sports enthusiast,” used the opportunity during his stay to visit the Black Stars camp to offer words of encouragement as the team competes at the ongoing 2026 FIFA World Cup. The Judicial Service said the visit “was motivated solely by a desire to support the national team” and should be viewed in that light.
The clarification comes after Chief Justice Baffoe-Bonnie was seen as part of a delegation, alongside Vice President Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang, that visited the Black Stars at their hotel in Toronto on Tuesday, 16 June 2026, ahead of Ghana’s World Cup opener against Panama. The delegation also included Ghana’s High Commissioner to Canada, Dora Francisca Edu-Buandoh, and Nana Otuo Siriboe II, who represented Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II.
The presence of the Chief Justice in the delegation drew mixed reactions on social media, with some Ghanaians questioning why a sitting Chief Justice would join a high-profile government delegation, while others defended the gesture as an innocuous show of patriotism.
In its statement, the Judicial Service maintained that judicial independence “does not require judges to withdraw entirely from society or cease to participate in ordinary aspects of national life,” adding that judges remain citizens of the Republic and members of the communities they serve. It stressed that what the Constitution requires of judges is independence of mind, fidelity to the law, and impartiality in the discharge of their judicial functions.
