Pink Sheets: The Story of Ghana’s Presidential election petition

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• justinian 10 years ago

  I haven't read this book yet, and I am grateful that the reviewer has drawn my attention to it.
  
  Although the reviewer might not have set out to do a "review article", rather than a brief review, and although he might taken ...
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  I haven't read this book yet, and I am grateful that the reviewer has drawn my attention to it.
  
  Although the reviewer might not have set out to do a "review article", rather than a brief review, and although he might taken this approach because he was writing for a non-academic audience, the subject is of such interest that I would have been grateful for a more in-depth review.
  
  Were the individual judgements acceptable to the reviewer? If not, why not?
  
  Was the conduct of the case, as seen on TV and presumably reported by the author of the book, all that it could have been? In particular, what does the reviewer think of the emotional and dismissive way in which the president of the panel reacted when asked to recuse himself? What about the terse nature of the judgement, and the claim by a former president of the Bar Association (Sam Okudzeto) that the tally of "for" [the petitioners] and "against" rendered by the president of the panel was erroneous?
  
  Of course, it is unusual for senior judges to rain on the parade of their fellow judges, but I submit that given the opportunity to comment on the performance of his brother judges in an historically unprecedented case, someone like Lord Denning would have ignored the niceties of the moment and gone to town to teach both his brother judges and the Bar as a whole, how the law should be handled in landmark cases of this nature. This is because, as the reviewer notes, this case is going to be referred to again and again by future generations.
  
  All of which is to plead with the reviewer kindly to revisit the book and do a proper critique of it, instead of this anodyne introduction, which nevertheless, whets the appetite for more!

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• Okonko Palm 10 years ago

  The complexities of that petition can not easily be put in a journalistic language.So much happened in that petition that I would say it challenged the strength of our judicial system as an institution and a very important or ...
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  The complexities of that petition can not easily be put in a journalistic language.So much happened in that petition that I would say it challenged the strength of our judicial system as an institution and a very important organ of state.
  
  Addison's arrogance and Bawumiah's intransigence which had been mistaken for brilliance will be subjected to proper legal review and at the end of the day what will come up is that,our judicial system, virtually bullied by the petitioners, was the loser and not the winner in this case.
  
  When the highest court of the land virtually had its eye on the political temperature and had to make so much concessions and take decisions with that in mind then the opinion of those judges can not stand up as one of our finest and it reflected.
  
  Maybe Justice Samuel Date-Bah will undertake a proper judicial journey into the saga of that petition and give us the proper legal analysis of the petition dispassionately and fairly for the the records.

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• Kwadwo. 10 years ago

  Sadly, jJustice Date-Bah, a brilliant Jurist, was not part of the panel that sat on this case. A better reasoned opinion would have come out from the Court had he participated in this case.

  Sadly, jJustice Date-Bah, a brilliant Jurist, was not part of the panel that sat on this case. A better reasoned opinion would have come out from the Court had he participated in this case.

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• justinian 10 years ago

  I agree with you, Kwadwo. He would have been an invaluable asset to the SC panel, had he been a member of it.
  
  I don't see how Atuguba, who can barely express himself fluently, and is intemperate to boot, could have been ...
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  I agree with you, Kwadwo. He would have been an invaluable asset to the SC panel, had he been a member of it.
  
  I don't see how Atuguba, who can barely express himself fluently, and is intemperate to boot, could have been made to preside over the case, with Date-Ba on the panel. He would have pricked Atuguba's egoism with a sarcastic word here and there, to say the least.
  
  This is why I say Justice Date-Ba should take the opportunity to write a lengthy review article on this book. It is fortunate that he agreed to do the review at all, because usually what Ghanaians of merit do is to succumb to the over-modest notion that they don't want to "put themselves forward" or appear "holier-than-thou" by criticising their peers; and "what would people say" if he gave his true opinion. Well, he has retired, so he is free to do what he wants. Ghana needs his critique.
  
  Why? The over-modest attitude I am talking about is wrong. If you possess merit, you must show it. Merit is recognised in University exams through the classification of awards system. Bright equals first; not-so-bright equals second. With upper and lower in between.
  
  In the more excellent educational institutions, promotions of academic staff are made out of merit. If a don writes well, everyone recognises him and he doesn't have to become grey-haired before he is promoted to high office.
  
  That's why I say again: Mr Justice Date-Ba, give us all you know, please! The opportunity to do so through reviewing this is legitimate and heaven-sent.
  
  There is too much illiteracy on the bench in Ghana and you must undertake to try to expose and thereby change it. And here is an opportunity. As I said before, Lord Denning did it for the UK; (you must have read his books!) So, please, you too must do it for Ghana. PLEASE!

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