President of the Ghana Bar Association (GBA), Anthony Forson, has called on members of the Bar to avail themselves to discuss legal matters that may arise from the final hearing in the ongoing election petition trial at the Supreme Court.
The apex court will on Thursday, March 4, give its final verdict on the election petition filed by the 2020 National Democratic Congress Presidential candidate, John Dramani Mahama against the Electoral Commission (EC) and President Nana Akufo-Addo.
Speaking at a press conference, Anthony Forson, urged all lawyers to “lend their intellectual power to the media and the general public and show leadership in explaining what people do not understand.”
According to him, “this is what we [lawyers] have been trained to do.”
His request follows a misunderstanding between the Judicial Service and the media on the roles both parties play in the ongoing election petition trial.
According to lawyers of the Judicial Service, some incendiary speeches on some media outlets indicate that decisions taken by the Justices lie outside legal principles, hence must be taken down.
In response to the matter, President of the Ghana Journalists Association, Affail Monney, who described the statement by the Judiciary as scandalous, however, admonished personnel in the media to desist from reportage that will bring the reputation of justice into disrepute.
Meanwhile, a Supreme Court judge, Justice Kulendi, who urged the media to be decorous in their commentaries towards the judiciary during a presser on Tuesday, said the judicial service will make available all necessary resources to assist reporters in educating the general public about the proceedings.
The President of the Ghana Bar Association has also rendered an apology on behalf of its members to several authorities who in one way or the other may have been offended.
He said: “Indeed, after the elections throughout the petition, tempers were very high and as much as I believe every lawyer is imbued with the ethics of the profession, sometimes some considerations will make you slip here and there and as human beings, even in court sometimes, we even forget some of the issues and ask for amendments.
“So I pray that whoever may have said something ill towards any person, I render an unqualified apology.”