The Acting Chief Justice, E.K.Wiredu says there is no justification for the repeal of the Criminal Libel Law. According to him, the repeal of the law has only given undue liberties to journalists and some members of the public to peddle falsehood, whilst rendering the process of seeking redress for defamation difficult and expensive. Mr Wiredu says he has always favoured the repeal of the law of sedition and not the Criminal Libel Law.
Addressing the annual conference of the Ghana Bar Association, Justice Wiredu who did not hide his dissatisfaction about the performance of a section of the media, questioned the fairness of an aggrieved person’s rejoinder to a front page newspaper story being placed in the inside pages of the newspaper.
The Chief Justice says the damage caused by the front-page story could never be repaired by a rejoinder that is placed in an obsure corner of an inside page. He suggested to the Bar Association to draw up a training programme programmes to enable journalists report properly on legal issues.
Justice Wiredu noted that Ghanaian journalists think they are better placed to interpret the constitution and comment on legal issues but this is wrong. He asked journalists to educate themselves and appreciate the law especially in the due process and court reporting.
