A Koforidua-based lawyer who is also the president of the Eastern regional branch of the Ghana Bar Association (GBA), Mr. S. Asante Ansong, shocked people when he sacked reporters who went to the Nkawkaw Magistrate Court on Friday, April 11, this year to witness the court's proceedings.
As if he was having a personal grudge with the reporters, Lawyer Ansong asked the reporters to leave their seats and sit outside the courtroom, if they did not want to be embarrassed.
Not even explanations by the reporters that their presence was approved by the magistrate, Mr. William Boampong, could deter the furious lawyer from carrying out his surprising action.
When his attention was drawn to the fact that his colleague lawyers had been co-operating with the reporters and saw nothing wrong with their sitting place, he boasted that he was the president of the GBA in the Eastern region and had the power to act on their behalf.
Some of the lawyers who later heard of the behaviour of Ansong expressed their surprise and pleaded on behalf of their colleague, pledging to investigate the issue further.
When Magistrate Boampong was informed about the incident, he said the lawyer had no business meddling in the sitting arrangement of the court.
"This is my court and I have the power to control the affairs here, the lawyer cannot tell me how to conduct the affairs here," he forcefully stated.
After the statement, he asked the reporters who had gone to stand in the corridors of the court, to resume their seats inside the courtroom.
The April 11 incident was the second of Lawyer Asante Ansong's open confrontation with journalists at the court on the same issue.
