Tsatsu Tsikata Says Ghana’s Courts Are Moving Past Darker Days

Veteran lawyer Tsatsu Tsikata says Ghana’s courts are moving away from a period he describes as marked by serious judicial manipulation, and he insists the justice system still holds the capacity to correct itself.

Speaking on Joy News' PM Express on Tuesday, the legal practitioner said some of the most troubling episodes of interference with the judiciary appear to be in the past. His remarks combined criticism of past distortions within the system with a firm argument that judges can still be called back to the core values of law, conscience and professional duty.

Tsikata’s central point was direct: public frustration with the courts may be justified in many instances, but abandoning confidence in the justice system altogether would be a mistake. In his view, the bench still contains the capacity for reflection, fairness and lawful decision-making, especially when litigants persist and place the right arguments squarely on the record.

Tsikata points to a judiciary capable of self-correction

During the interview, Tsikata said he believes the worst phase of manipulation within the judiciary is easing. He stated that “some of the worst excesses of the judiciary, clearly being manipulated, are behind us, fortunately,” a remark that captured both relief and caution.

That position matters in a national climate where debates over judicial independence, political influence and public trust in legal institutions remain intense. His comments suggest that while the record of the courts has not been spotless, the answer is not despair but continued insistence on proper legal standards.

He argued that judges are not beyond introspection and that lawyers and citizens should not assume the bench is incapable of recognizing what justice requires. According to him, the conscience and training of judges remain critical safeguards within the system.

“One only has to appeal to the conscience of the judges” because they understand the law and what it demands.

That argument places responsibility not only on judges, but also on advocates who appear before them. For Tsikata, the legal process still creates room for principled arguments to matter, even when proceedings appear discouraging or delayed.

His remarks also amount to a broader challenge to cynicism. Ghana’s democratic institutions continue to face scrutiny, and the judiciary often sits at the center of some of the country’s most consequential disputes. By saying the system can still produce just outcomes, Tsikata is making the case that reform, vigilance and persistence are more useful than surrender.

Personal experience shapes his confidence in the courts

Tsikata made clear that his confidence in the justice system does not come from abstract theory. He rooted it in his own experience with a prolonged legal battle that eventually ended in his favour.

Recalling that case, he said a unanimous Court of Appeal decision acquitted and discharged him on all counts. He noted that the decision came eight years after the initial ruling against him, making the eventual outcome both legally significant and personally vindicating.

“In the end, a Court of Appeal unanimously acquitted and discharged me on all the counts. It took eight years after the initial decision, but it still gave me the assurance that justice.”

The timeline is important. An eight-year wait is no small matter in any justice system. Delays of that length test not only the endurance of litigants, but also public confidence in whether lawful remedies remain meaningful. Yet Tsikata’s point was that delay, while costly and deeply frustrating, did not erase the value of the final judgment.

His account reflects one of the enduring tensions within the administration of justice in Ghana and elsewhere: a system may be slow, contested and vulnerable to pressure, yet still retain mechanisms that allow wrongs to be corrected. That does not excuse delay. It does, however, complicate the narrative that the courts are beyond redemption.

For Tsikata, the lesson from that episode is not that every case reaches the right conclusion quickly, but that persistence within the legal framework still matters. The eventual acquittal reinforced his conviction that the courts remain a place where lawful arguments can prevail.

• He described past judicial manipulation as real and serious.
• He said the worst of those excesses now appear to be behind Ghana.
• He credited judges’ conscience and legal training as sources of hope.
• He pointed to his unanimous acquittal by the Court of Appeal after eight years.

Faith, persistence and the search for justice

Tsikata also spoke about the personal convictions that sustained him through that long legal ordeal. He said a verse from Psalm 94:15 remained with him during the period, specifically the assurance that justice would once again be found in the courts and that righteous people would stand by it.

That reference offered insight into the moral and spiritual grounding behind his legal outlook. It also underscored that for some lawyers and litigants, the fight for justice is not only procedural. It is also deeply tied to endurance, belief and the refusal to treat temporary setbacks as final truth.

He said that conviction continues to shape both his advocacy and his broader perspective on the legal system. In his telling, the courts should still be approached as places where justice can be found, even when circumstances suggest otherwise.

“I have an inbuilt conviction that the law and justice can be found in the courts.”

Tsikata extended that outlook to his work with clients. He recounted advising one client who had become disillusioned by court processes that appeared manipulated. According to him, the client repeatedly questioned whether it still made sense to maintain confidence in the judiciary under such conditions.

Tsikata said his answer did not change. He told the client there was no meaningful alternative to pursuing justice through the courts, and he urged persistence. His advice was to continue placing one’s conviction about the right outcome on the record and trust that, in the end, justice could still emerge.

That perspective will resonate with many Ghanaians who have watched legal disputes drag on while public suspicion grows around politically exposed or socially significant cases. It is not a naïve endorsement of the status quo. Rather, it is a demand that the institutions of justice be held to their own standards and that litigants refuse to give up that ground.

1. Stay within lawful processes.
2. Keep building the record around what is right and just.
3. Trust that principled persistence can still produce results.

In the end, Tsikata’s message was neither blind optimism nor blanket condemnation. It was a harder message than either of those. He acknowledged the reality of manipulation. He acknowledged the pain of delay. But he also argued that Ghana’s courts should not be written off.

That is a serious intervention in the public debate about justice in Ghana. It says reform remains necessary, scrutiny remains justified and disappointment remains understandable. But it also says the bench is not beyond conscience, and the law is not yet empty.

For a country that continues to test the strength of its institutions through legal and political contest, that argument lands with force. The credibility of the judiciary will not be rebuilt through slogans. It will be rebuilt through decisions, discipline and courage on the bench. Tsikata’s remarks amount to a challenge for the courts to prove, case by case, that the darkest period is truly receding.