Contempt needs clear definition - Ace Ankomah

Private legal practitioner, Ace Ankomah has urged parliament to consider a Contempt of Court Act that will clearly define contempt in a way that is accepted by all Ghanaians.

Different lawyers have proffered variant views about what contempt really means in the wake of the Supreme Court’s handling of the Montie 3 saga.

According to Mr Ankomah, the Contempt of Court Act when established will help maintain the balance between the right of free speech and commentary on court proceedings.

Speaking at a symposium in Accra, he said: “England is too sophisticated to have ‘scandalising the court’, but guess what: in small colonies consisting principally of coloured people, it applies. Ghana’s Supreme Court considered it in the Mensah Bonsu case. Amoah Sekyi JSC … quotes this decision or this statement a jaundiced point of view.

Aikins JSC was even angrier, he said this country is civilised enough to be outside that environment. Speaking for myself, I do not see the wisdom in maintaining ‘scandalising’ in Ghana. Charles Hayford Benjamin, speaking for the majority said the dictum made in 1899 may now be considered racist but the underlying principle is still valid with respect to countries emerging from colonialism such as Ghana.

So what England rejects Ghana accepted as recently as 1995 that it was still relevant for us. Should we pass a law defining it? Contempt of parliament is defined in the constitution and the Parliament Act 1965 (300). Should we pass the law so you can read and say: ‘this is what contempt is, I should not do it’. Should the punishment be prescribed by law that it is not more than four months or it is no more than three months so that the court cannot give four months? But right now it is free. What England had and discarded we still have with love”.