[ 2021-03-04 ]

Don’t malign justices of the Supreme Court – Yonny Kulendi
A Justice of the Supreme Court, Yonny Kulendi has
said the public can criticize judges in Ghana
however, those criticisms should be constructive.

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He made this comment in a joint media engagement
with the Ghana Journalists Association, National
Media Commission and the Ghana Bar Association, on
Wednesday March 3.



“When judges speak, that is the end of our
roles, it is in our place to get into studios,
into debates, commentaries, that responsibility
falls to you [Media]…let’s be constructive, we
are happy to be criticized. Criticize us as
violently as you can but for Christ sake, don’t
insult us.

“Don’t berate us, don’t speak hatred and
don’t malign us.”

He added “You’ll have to take this phase of
the responsibility very seriously. It is as
important as the role you have performed in
transmitting the proceedings worldwide because at
the end of the day the Ghanaian people own the
process.

“So it is important that they understand what
went on and when the judges speak irrespective of
our preferences, our likes and dislikes by the
rules of engagement the referee blows the whistle
and the lots fall where they fall. And so let’s
be constructive, let’s be proactive,” he
said.



His comments come after the judges received flak
for a directive given to media firms to pull down
stories that put justices of the highest court of
Ghana in a bad light.

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

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

The Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) described
the directive as scandalous.

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.

Source - 3 News

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