[ 2021-03-02 ]

Not every speech is permitted under Ghana’s democracy – Thaddeus Sory
Lawyer of the Judicial Service of Ghana, Mr
Thaddeus Sorry has justified a directive given to
media house s to pull down stories that put the
justices of the Supreme Court bad light.

realityapp
Mr Sorry told TV3’s Martin Asiedu Darteh that
not every free speech is permitted under the
democracy Ghana is practicing at the moment.



His comment comes after the Ghana Journalists
Association (GJA) has described the directive as
scandalous.

The directive was issued on behalf of the Court by
lawyers of the Judicial Service of Ghana,
Sory@Law.

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They claim some of the publications in the media
are “a series of incendiary, hateful and
offensive statements, and speeches. . .against the
Justices”.

But at a press conference in Accra on Monday March
1, President of the GJA Affail Monney said “the
GJA is, to put it mildly, dumbstruck in reading
this obnoxious directive pregnant with insidious
threats to media freedom in Ghana which is touted
as a land of freedom and justice. With all due
respect, this is scandalous.”



“Unsurprisingly, our telephones have been
flooded with calls, both local and international,
from journalists, media watch organizations,
defenders of press freedom and free expression,
seeking to know what exactly was happening since
that contentious statement by the Judicial Service
was issued.

“It is universally acknowledged that media right
is not absolute, but qualified. And legal experts
teach us that such qualification must chime with
the dictates of the law, due process, and must be
exercised in such ways as to achieve legitimate
aims and objectives.

“In crafting the scandalous statement, the GJA
is principally of the view that the Judicial
Service ought to have avoided any impression or
situation that has the tendency to instill fear
and promote a culture of silence into which Ghana
had been enveloped during the period of autocratic
misrule.

“Criticism, they say , is a gift which all arms
of government need. So it will be miscarriage of
fairness to deny the Judiciary that gift. Ann
Landers once said ‘the naked truth is better
than a well-dressed lie. ‘Contextually, the
naked truth is that the Judicial is not immune
from criticism. However, that criticism must be
done in a manner that does not bring the
administration of justice into disrepute. To this
end, the GJA urges the media community to be calm,
and not to be led into temptation to scandalize
the court with unhinged comments or verbal stones,
no matter how provocative the statement of the
Judicial Service might be.”



Responding to the concerns raised by the GJA
president, Mr Thaddeus Sorry said “There are
certain aspects of free speech that cannot be
tolerated in the context of our democracy. Every
speech or statement or other publication which
brings the administration of justice into
disrepute or interfere with the administration of
justice such as threatening judges.

“If the journalist doesn’t use them but
permits his platform to be used, you know what the
effect of it is when you permit something to be
done.

“If the president of the GJA said such
statements should not be pulled down it leaves me
with an impression of the kind of presidency he is
giving to the people he leads.”

Source - 3 News

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