Justice Akuffo simply said she was uncomfortable justifying a judgment she delivered.

[contextly_sidebar id=”hD9FQk7XsLFM1CVpQAUSiRRS5nmMowBk”]The Montie Three; Alistair Nelson, Godwin Ako Gunn and Salifu Maase, were sentenced to jail for four months after they were found to be in contempt of the Supreme Court in July of 2016, when they threatened the lives of Supreme Court Justices during a live radio programme.

The three were subsequently pardoned after serving only a month, by Former President Mahama, who exercised his constitutional prerogative of mercy, following petitions presented to him mostly by members of his government and party, the National Democratic Congress (NDC).

As part of her judgement, the four directors of Network Broadcasting Limited (Owners of Radio Gold and Montie FM), were roped into the contempt charge, and ordered to pay a fine of GHc30,000. Harry Zakuor, owner of Zeze media, which owns Montie FM’s frequency was also to pay a separate fine of GHc30,000.

Responding to a question on the idea of contempt protecting the integrity of the court, Justice Akuffo said, she was “not comfortable about being called upon to justify a judgment that we have delivered, but in general terms, concerning the scope of the exercising of the contempt power or labeling something to be contemptuous, I believe that each case will dictate the outcome.”

The question, from the Bawku Central MP, Mahama Ayariga, sought to understand why the contempt charge was extended to the owners of Montie FM.

Justice Akuffo, during her judgment at the time, said the owners were careless in their submissions to the court, as they appeared to have little or no interest in what transpired on their radio station.

She expressed the hope that, every media owner will henceforth take a keen interest in what is churned out on their frequencies.

GIBA suit against NMC

Also of note was the question relating to the declaration as constitutional, the law requiring media owners to seek content approval from the National Media Commission (NMC) before publication.

In a unanimous decision in November 2016, a seven-member panel, led by Justice Akuffo, held that certain regulations in the NMC (Content Standards) Regulations 2015 (L.I. 2224) amounted to censorship and contravened Article 162 Clause (4) of the 1992 Constitution.

Ghana Independent Broadcasters Association (GIBA) had dragged the NMC and the Attorney-General to court over aspects of the regulation.

GIBA claimed that the regulations were an affront to freedom of speech and the rights and freedoms granted to the media under Article 162 of the 1992 Constitution.

Justice Akuffo, explaining some aspects of the panel’s reasoning, said they considered aspects of the NMC’s regulations to be too broad and only asked them to return to the court with specifics.

“The balance is that, in the matter against the media commission, regulations were being made which were over-broad without specificity and carried all kinds of sanctions, therefore, what we were calling on the commission to do was to go back to the drawing board.”

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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Sophia Akuffo ‘swerves’ Montie 3 question during vetting appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Notable members of the Judiciary are in attendance to observe, including Supreme Court Justices, Jones Dotse and William Atuguba.

The Appointments Committee had earlier set June 19 for the vetting, but announced on Tuesday, June 13, that it had to reschedule the vetting to this week to avoid keeping the position vacant for long.

President Akufo-Addo in May announced Justice Sophia Akuffo as his choice of successor to Chief Justice, Georgina Theodora Wood who retired on June 8, 2017.

About the CJ nominee

Sophia Akuffo had her Masters in Law (LLM) from the Havard University in the United States.

She has been a member of the Governing Committee of the Commonwealth Judicial Education Institute and the Chairperson of the Alternative Dispute Resolution Task Force.

In January 2006, she was elected one of the first judges of the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights initially elected for two years, she was subsequently re-elected until 2014 and is at present serving as Vice-President of the Court.

She has written The Application of Information & Communication Technology in the Judicial Process – the Ghanaian Experience, a presentation to the African Judicial Network Ghana (2002). If confirmed by parliament Justice Sophia Akuffo will be the fifth Chief Justice under the fourth republic after; Isaac Kobina Abban who served between 1995 to 2001.

Edward Kwame Wiredu also served between 2001 and 2003 while George Kingsley Acquah served from 2003 to 2007 before Georgina Theodora Wood from 2007 to 2017.

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By: citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Sophia Akuffo’s vetting underway appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.