The laws of the country should apply fairly to all - Kwesi Pratt

Senior journalist, Kwesi Pratt says the laws of the country should apply fairly to all Ghanaians.

Mr Pratt noted that the law of contempt seems to have been made loose with some people being spared and others made to face it squarely.

He was commenting on the contempt suit filed against the Host of Montie FM, Salifu Maase, a.k.a Mugabe and two other activists of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC).

While condemning the aspersions made by the three persons on Judges in the country, Mr. Pratt however wondered why some lawyers want the Supreme Court judges to strike down the gavel on the three hard.

He expressed shock over the assertions by some legal practitioners and political figures that the respondents in the contempt case should be punished to serve as a deterrent to others.

According to him, there have been instances in retrospect where some media practitioners and print media houses made all manner of contemptuous comments regarding the judgment debt scandal involving businessman Alfred Agbesi Woyome.

“Indeed, if we were to apply the laws of contempt, many [many, many] of our journalists and presenters who reported the Woyome case would be in prison by now because we flouted the law by heart. I saw newspaper headlines proclaiming Woyome a criminal when he was facing trial. I saw newspaper headlines proclaiming Woyome is a thief.”

He stated that all those who sung the infamous Woyome song should have been held in contempt of court.

“All those who were singing ‘Woyome, Woyome; Gargantuan…’ it amounted to contempt in the strictest interpretation and so on. The law must be seen to be interpreted fairly and justly,” he said.

He also alluded to an incident where a political leader in the country threatened the lives of the Judges but was left off the hook.

He recounted that the political leader, which he didn’t identify on the programme, said the “families of the Judges sitting on the case should advise their family members – the Supreme Court Judges – and that they should begin to prepare for a funerals for the Supreme Court Judges. I’m sure all of you heard this. All of you heard these statements.

“Now the man who was making these statements was a lawyer supposed to know the law. Of course, the dictum is that ignorance of the law is not an excuse…So, the ignorant and the informed, when it comes to the law, are all punished equally and the same.

But you see a lawyer of 31 years standing is supposed to know better than a radio panelist whose educational background may perhaps even be doubtful.”

Mr. Pratt called for an equal application of the law, saying “I cringe because of the open, the unhidden, the raw hypocrisy that comes out of this. Raw hypocrisy! I cringe also because it seems to me that even when it comes to enforcement of the law, when it comes to insisting on decency on the air waves and so on; we want to wear political lenses. It is frightening.”