Justice Without Governance Has No Force /Nana Oye Tells Law Students

Story by Fada Amakye

Deputy Chief of Staff (Administration), Nana Oye Bampoe Addo, has charged law students to grow the NDC’s Legal Green and make it powerful and influential.

Speaking at the maiden Law Students’ Conference of the Legal Green Association at the Ghana Shippers House in Accra, Nana Oye said lawyers must not see law, justice and governance as separate.

The conference was on the theme: Bridging Justice and Governance: The Role of Lawyers in Political Leadership

If your membership is not big enough, it’s not a big enough share of Ghana’s population, then you have to look for it. You must be relevant. You must be influential. When they hear Legal Green, they must know it comes with power and influence and impact, she said.

Explaining the nexus between law and governance, she quoted Article 1 of the 1992 Constitution, noting that sovereignty resides in the people of Ghana.

She said justice emanates from the people and is administered by an independent judiciary under Article 125 (1), while governance is the broader architecture of how power is organized and held to account.

Justice without governance has no institution to give it force, and governance without justice has no legitimacy to sustain it,” she told the students.

The human rights lawyer also referenced Article 296 on discretionary powers and cited cases including Re: Sala v Attorney-General (1970) and Ransford France v Electoral Commission (2012)_ to emphasize ethical leadership.

She said when a lawyer enters public office, the lawyer carries the values of the legal profession into rooms where those values are not always convenient.

Nana Oye also pointed to the Code of Conduct 2025 for government appointees introduced by President John Dramani Mahama as a guide to uphold legal ethics in political leadership.

She commended lawyers who campaigned and held ballots to ensure electoral processes were adhered to.