Campaigns should begin 3 months to elections – GBA

Active electioneering campaigns should be restricted to the last three months to a general election, the Ghana Bar Association (GBA) has suggested.

The Association at its 2014/2015 Annual Conference held in Cape Coast raised concerns over “prolonged seasons of active electioneering campaigns”.

According to GBA, such phenomenon risks undermining good governance in the country.

“[GBA, therefore,] calls on all Ghanaians to find a means to curtail [electioneering campaigns] to the last three months before general elections,” GBA proposed in its resolution after the Conference.

Read the full text below:

RESOLUTIONS OF THE GHANA BAR ASSOCIATION PASSED AT ITS 2014/2015

ANNUAL CONFERENCE HELD IN CAPE COAST

15TH TO 19TH SEPTEMBER 2014

WE, THE MEMBERS OF THE GHANA BAR ASSOCIATION, ASSEMBLED IN ANNUAL CONFERENCE at the University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast in the Central Region, SALUTE the Government and people of Ghana, especially, the chiefs and people of the Central Region, our hosts.

ACKNOWLEDGING the importance of state institutions in national development;

RECOGNISING the important role of regulatory bodies in ensuring effective realisation of the mandate of state institutions;

AFFIRMING the role of the Legal Profession in the establishment of effective and efficient regulatory bodies as a basic condition for the development of strong Regulatory Bodies to insulate state institutions from interference;

ASSERTING the vital role the legal profession plays in the proper administration of justice, resolving incidences of interference and strengthening the growth of state institutions in our country;

RECOGNISING that the independence of state institutions could engender resourcefulness of officials and complement government effort in the promotion of the general well being of the citizenry for an effective provision of amenities and services;

CONCERNED about the growing incidence of inaction on the part of some government officials and with such officials blaming same on government interference in the execution of projects and programmes across the entire spectrum of the country;

CONSIDERING the role of the Legal profession in championing the rule of law, justice and international relations;

HEREBY RESOLVE AND DECLARE AS FOLLOWS:

MATTERS AFFECTING THE LEGAL PROFESSION

1. Reiterates the Bar’s commitment to upholding and continually promoting effective and long term sustainable development and stability of the nation through the effective functioning of critical state institutions- Parliament, the Judiciary, Electoral Commission, Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice, Economic and Organised Crime Office, National Commission for Civic Education among others, and charges the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the GBA to take all steps to educate and encourage all members of the Bar to ensure the full and continuing realisation of this objective;



2. Advocates the need to overhaul the criminal justice system and in particular the rights of accused persons, victims of crime and witnesses, focusing on the sentencing regime and stresses the urgent need for greater range of sentencing powers to include non custodial sentences;
3. Reiterates its earlier calls for effective and practical case management including the establishment of criminal justice boards to ensure that cases are dealt with expeditiously and that there is the least occurrence of lawyers spending long hours in the courtroom whilst they await the hearing of their cases. And accordingly condemns the painful menace of delay in the administration of justice stemming from rampant adjournments and stagnation of cases and calls on the judiciary to effectively manage the courts;



4. Observes with concern the creeping culture of a seeming abolition of the statutory legal vacation where judges compel lawyers to work during the legal vacation, especially where Rulings have been given against lawyers who declined to work during vacation and charged NEC as a matter of urgency to bring this aberration to the attention of Her Ladyship the Chief Justice to prevent any unhealthy friction between the Bench and the Bar.



5. Calls on the Judiciary to lead in the effort to attract investments into Ghana by ensuring that there is respect for contracts through expeditious enforcement of mutual and reciprocal rights of parties to given contracts or agreements;



6. Notes with consternation the dwindling standards of ethics at the Bar and calls on all practitioners at the Bar to uphold the ethics of the profession by striving to be courteous, acting promptly, conscientiously, diligently and with reasonable competence, and taking all reasonable and practicable steps to avoid any unnecessary expense or waste of the court’s time all with the view to ensuring that professional engagements are fulfilled;
7. Notes with concern the undesirable role of emotions of judges and magistrates in the adjudicatory process and reminds all judges and magistrates that while their patience may be tried and tested in the course of their duties by lawyers and litigants alike, it is incumbent on a judge while being firm, to be fair, patient and courteous to litigants, lawyers and other court users and that a judge who is habitually disrespectful or rude to litigants and/or lawyers, risks losing his self-respect and therefore calls upon the judges and magistrates to exercise restraint and appropriate judicial temperament worthy of their exalted position in the administration of justice, in their dealings with lawyers even where the judges and magistrates disagree with the lawyers in the conduct of their cases for their clients.
8. Decries the deplorable state of accommodation in which some judges and magistrates live, and court premises in which the judges and magistrates work, and views such deplorable conditions inimical to the quality of justice delivery and hence calls upon the Chief Justice and the Judicial Council to resolve these challenges;



9. Notes with concern the numerous instances of bailiffs demanding payments from lawyers and litigants before proceeding to effect service of processes, instances of delays occasioned by late process service and difficulty in proving service, hereby proposes the restructuring of process service and suggests the inclusion of electronic service especially on the Attorney General whose offices are found essentially in the regional capitals;



10. Concerned with the insistence by prison officers and other security officials to be present and to listen in while lawyers have private conferences with suspects or prisoners in incarceration which contravenes client/lawyer confidentiality and consequently asserts that since there is no law that backs this administrative directive directs the NEC to liaise with the Director-General of the Prison Service, the Inspector General of Police (IGP) and the heads of the other security agencies to ensure that these administrative directives cease forthwith;



11. Bemoans the apparent lack of supervision and effective monitoring of personnel of the Judicial Service; a phenomenon, which had given rise to lack lustre performance and corrupt practices among some of the employees of the service and directs NEC to liaise with the Chief Justice to ensure that employees of the service acquit themselves creditably;



12. Expresses its dissatisfaction with the automation system in place in the High Courts and notes that same has been a mirage as almost all the equipment in the said courts have been malfunctioning or have broken down, and calls on the office of the Chief Justice and the Judicial Council to rehabilitate the automated courts for the full benefits to be derived therefrom;



13. Laments the delay in obtaining records of appeal and other records of proceedings of the courts and suggests that proceedings must be simultaneously compiled during the trial and equally finds it unacceptable situations where receipts are not issued for official payments made to obtain copies of court documents.

1. Notices the growing incidence of interference in the activities of state institutions, stresses the urgent need to stem this tide and insulate state institutions from any form of interference, and further stresses the necessity for state institutions such as Parliament, the Judiciary, Electoral Commission, CHRAJ, EOCO, NCCE, metropolitan and district assemblies, Lands Commission and the security agencies among others be given a free hand to effectively exercise their mandate so as to ensure long-term sustainable development and stability of Ghana;



2. Expresses concern that a change of government leads to a change in positions of boards, heads of state-owned institutions, service commanders and other security services positions which changes appear to be so politicised and emphasises the need for regulatory bodies and state institutions to assume the posture of strong institutions devoid of any political influence and exercising the mandate conferred on them as by law established;



3. Encourages persons at the helm of affairs to focus on the development of Ghana rather than on how they can manipulate state institutions to their advantage, welcomes the charge to the Bar Council by His Excellency the President to present a position paper for his consideration and possible implementation on the depoliticisation of our institutions of state through conventions and directs NEC to undertake this charge as a matter of urgency;



4. Views with growing concern the phenomenon of prolonged seasons of active electioneering campaigns which risk undermining good governance in the country, and calls on all Ghanaians to find a means to curtail it to the last three months before general elections;
5. Considers the conduct of elections as the single most important threat to our national peace and life as a people and prescribes that the recommendations of the Supreme Court and many more be immediately considered and implemented by the Electoral Commission and further calls on the Electoral Commission to go the extra mile to assure all Ghanaians that the 2016 elections will be free, fair, just and incident-free so that winners and losers alike will have no basis for any complaints;



6. Strongly encourages the President to seize the opportunity of the appointment of a new Chairman of the Electoral Commission to boost the image and credibility of the Commission before the 2016 elections and believes that what all Ghanaians will be looking for from the new Electoral Commissioner is one who is perceived as capable and just; a person of integrity and one who will not pander to political pressures from any quarters whatsoever;



7. Advises that notwithstanding the socio-economic and political challenges facing the country the citizenry should eschew the temptation to disturb the constitutional order and sacrifice our peace and security through subtle suggestions and calls for civil strife and unconstitutional means for the removal of democratically elected governments, and urges all persons to utilise the avenues created by the Constitution to ventilate their grievances and strive to uphold the good name and democratic credentials of Ghana at all times;



8. Notes with great worry the rising inflation, depreciation of the Ghanaian currency, soaring prices, high fuel and utility rates and difficult economic circumstances which have contrived to make life difficult, underscores the urgent need to address the current challenges facing the country, and recommends a non-partisan national long-term framework to address the fundamental challenges in the areas of roads, education, health, unemployment, lawlessness/indiscipline, corruption among others;



9. Notes with regret the outbreak of cholera, which is essentially the resultant effect of filth, indiscipline on the part of the citizenry and lack of proper hygiene and calls for the strengthening of local government to exercise their mandate in ensuring that proper sanitation is observed by all;



10. Views with great concern media reports on the Commissioner for Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) concerning the issue of her accommodation and calls on Government to investigate the said allegations so that the truth or otherwise could be established;



11. Observes with concern the deplorable state of police cells and prisons as akin to the dungeons in which slave masters kept slaves, and maintains that prisoners under the Constitution are entitled to dignity and must be treated as such;



12. Views with great worry the apparent deliberate delays on the part of social welfare employees in writing the social enquiry reports needed for child adoption by the courts, and urges the minister in charge to ensure compliance with the statutory periods expected of these social welfare officials to submit the said reports to the courts to ensure speedy child adoption processes.

1. Notes with great delight the celebration of the 800th anniversary of the signing of the Magna Carta, which was signed in 1215 in England and calls on the Ghana Bar Association to join its colleagues at the International Bar Association and the American Bar Association to celebrate the said anniversary which laid the foundation for the concept of constitutional democracy, the notion that law could unify society in times of crisis, and the idea of independence from tyrannical rule;
2. Therefore views with much reprehension the tragedy of many African countries continuing to labour under repressive and oppressive regimes, mentions the Gambian President Yahaya Jammeh, the Cameroonian President Paul Biya and the Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe among the large numbers of African dictators who are not prepared to allow their people to breathe any air of freedom, and calls on the international community to help citizens in the oppressed countries to break off from this yoke of oppressive governments;



3. Condemns with respect to the case of the girls abducted by Boko Haram, the said acts and demands the immediate safe return of all the abducted girls, is of the view that the Boko Haram threat cannot be said to be solely a Nigerian challenge but rather a universal human rights violation and calls on the government of Nigeria, the ECOWAS and the international community to intensify efforts in bringing the Boko Haram threat to a halt;
4. Views the present Ukraine crisis with alleged Russian involvement as worrying and calls on the international community to bring to bear the use of high-level diplomacy to ensure the peaceful resolution of the said crisis;



5. Applauds the intervention of the International Community, in fighting the dreaded Ebola disease in West Africa and urges an enhanced effort to contain the spread of the disease.