Dr Maurice Ampaw, President of the Legal Advocacy Foundation, has called on Ghanaians to carefully interrogate the issues raised by the Supreme Court Judges in the election petition judgment rather than attack and insult them.
He said the post election petition discussions should not be attacks on judges but rather to question their decision in terms of their knowledge of the law.
Dr Ampaw was speaking at a special forum organized by the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) on the “Media’s coverage of the 2012 Election Petition adjudication: Successes, challenges and the way forward” in Accra.
Dr Ampaw, who spoke on the topic: “the legal perspectives on the media’s coverage of the 2012 Election Petition adjudication and Post-verdict media discussions,” said it was unfortunate that instead of people interrogating the issues raised by the judges in their judgments, they are rather attacking and insulting them.
He said the way the verdict was delivered, however, did not meet the aspirations of most ordinary Ghanaians though there were various explanations provided from the majority and minority on the panel.
He said the comments from Tsatsu Tsikata, Counsel for the NDC in the election petition, against one of the judges also opened the flood gates for all sorts of attacks and insults on the judges.
Dr Ampaw further called for a serious national debate on the law governing the election petition in the country.
He said Articles 62, 63 and 64 of the 1992 constitution are serious provisions that have to be looked at adding that, these three laws actually favour any respondent in a petition as they suggest that the person declared by the EC is presumed to be validly elected.
Dr Ampaw argued that the same Article 64 which allows the President of the country to be sworn-in while the election petition is ongoing makes it incongruous.
Professor Kwame Karikari, Executive Director for MFWA, who gave an overview of the media monitoring exercise, said the media has a larger role of being a watchdog over the executive, as well as the citizens.
He said it was unacceptable for politicians to use the airwaves to do things that do not help the people and hinder development.
“It is our democratic right for politicians to tell us their agenda or what they intend to do for the people” he added.
Professor Karikari said the media has a responsibility to be professional and ethical by doing things that would help the citizens understand issues that are occurring in the society.
He said despite some improvement in journalism practice in the country, we are still not there yet when compared to the standards of the profession in Ghana with those of other African countries such Kenya, Senegal, Nigeria and South Africa.
He said Ghanaian journalists have the responsibility to keep improving themselves in order for the citizens to benefit from public affairs discussions and be better enlightened.
Professor Karikari also noted that in spite of the difficulties that the media has they have created the atmosphere for tolerance by allowing people with different viewpoints to express themselves through debate and arguments.
He said the MFWA would continue to work with the media to improve journalistic standards in the country.
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