U-Turn: Supreme Court Judges say they are open to Criticism

A Justice of the Supreme Court of Ghana, Justice Yoni Kulendi has advised journalists to feel free and criticize judges as much as they want, however, such criticisms should be done constructively and without malice or insults.

He made the comments at a joint press conference on Wednesday morning at the premises of the Supreme and in the company of leading media associations in Ghana including the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), Private Newspaper Publishers Association of Ghana (PRINPAG), Ghana Independent Broadcasters Association (GIBA) and the National Media Commission (NMC).

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The comments of the Judge follows a statement of the Judicial service released by Thadeus Sorry containing threats. The statement was subsequently countered by the GJA, PRINPAG and other media associations which described it as an attack on free speech.

“Criticize us as violently as you can but don’t insult us. Don’t malign us,” Justice Kulendi stated

“When Judges speak that is the end of our role” but the rest lies on the media to educate the citizenry on the Verdict.

“You have to take this part of your responsibility very seriously,” he admonished journalists.

Justice Kulendi – a member of the nine Justices of the Supreme Court hearing the ongoing election petition, also reminded the media of the verdict which is due on Thursday, March 4, 2021 and urged them to be circumspect in their analysis of the verdict taking into account the media’s role in our Ghana’s democratic development.

President of the GJA, Affail Monney and the Vice President of PRINPAG, David Tamakloe, on their part respectively urged the media to do their work diligently without fear or favour. They emphasized however that it must be done in line with the tenets of good journalism practice.

Even though the Press conference was to sensitize the media on Thursday’s verdict , some people have said that they view it as an attempt by the bench to smoke Peace pipe with the media over the recent rancor.

Source: GhanaNewsOnline.com.gh with additional file from senaradioonlinecom.com