GBA Speaks Out On National Issues

By William Yaw Owusu

Friday, 20 October 2006
THE Ghana Bar Association (GBA) says it was not obligatory for the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, to appear before the Justice Georgina Wood committee if he was not invited.

"The Bar wishes to advise the public that there is no legal duty on any person against whom an allegation is made in the course of any investigation, whether by a committee or commission of enquiry, the police or any law enforcement agency, to proceed without any intimation from the investigating body to surrender him or herself for interrogation."

At a press conference in Accra yesterday to inform the public of the Bar’s 19-point resolution adopted at its 2006/2007 annual conference held at Ho, GBA president, Solomon Kwami Tetteh, called on the media to end the debate on the association of the Asantehene with the cocaine saga.
"It is a sensitive matter of public importance that is assuming tribal dimensions", he said. However, he said "the Bar considers as unfortunate the threats to the life and person of four senior journalists for their views on the matter," he said.

Mr. Tetteh said the Bar also considered unfortunate, the threat by some contributors to radio discussions to lynch those journalists if they dared enter Kumasi.

"The Bar wishes to remind those contributors that those journalists were exercising their constitutional right for free speech. Any attempt to impede their entry into Kumasi would constitute an invasion of their constitutional right of free movement," Mr. Tetteh stressed.

He noted that since narcotic drugs trade poses danger to health, security and the image of the country, "government must take steps to resource the security agencies to be able to combat the menace effectively" and advised members and judges to play their respective roles by disposing of narcotic cases with dispatch.

The GBA further advised its members against media trials of their cases and acts of self-advertisement saying it is unethical.

"Such actions tend to give a distorted and prejudiced account of cases to the public. Members are rather encouraged to abide by the time-hallowed practices of prosecuting their client’s cases in the court of law, the proper forum for the adjudication of cases."

Mr. Tetteh said although the Bar accepts the duty to contribute to debates on national issues and help in shaping public opinion, "it must now focus its attention even more on the neglected issue of falling professional standards and the establishment of the association as a professional body."

He reiterated the Bar’s appeal to the General Legal Council and the Attorney-General to take the necessary steps "to vest in the Bar, the power to discipline lawyers."

He appealed to parliament to pass the Domestic Violence and Right to Information bills into law.

On the 50th anniversary celebrations of the country’s independence, Mr. Tetteh said the Bar holds the view that it should be programmed to provide opportunity for all groups and societies to participate in it to enhance national unity, reconciliation, consensus building and togetherness.

It also noted that the spate of strikes in the country and urged all persons without exception to abide by the labour laws of the country, in particular the negotiation, mediation and arbitration of all industrial disputes.

Saying that the Bar, welcomed the ongoing negotiations for new conditions of service for teachers, he urged the National Association of Graduate Teachers in the spirit of dispute resolution and "in the name of the affected school children, their parents and entire nation to take its place at the ongoing negotiating table and in the mean time resume work".

The GBA president said the Bar had noted the abolition of the Criminal Libel Law had resulted in "unbridled freedom" in the media landscape prompting a section of the public to call for its reinstatement to "correct the misconduct".

"In the view of the GBA, the profession of journalism should be allowed to grow and develop the structures of its regulation. It will be better to create an environment that will encourage a steady, even if gradual, growth of a culture of good and professional journalism than to enforce professional standards by the coercive force of criminal legislation," he said.