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General News of Friday, 19 April 2013

Source: Peace FM

CJ erred in live telecast directive – Kwesi Pratt

Kwesi Pratt has registered his displeasure with the ruling by Chief Justice (CJ) Georgina Theodora Wood to allow a live telecast of the election case at the Supreme Court.

He said the Chief Justice was “wrong” to usurp the authority of the Supreme Court after the nine-member panel had assented to hear the case off the media cameras.

Without mincing words, the managing editor of the Insight newspaper stated that the Chief Justice had no authority “whatsoever to review a decision of the court.”

To him, she goofed when she overruled the decision and allowed cameras into the courtroom to televise the ongoing case between the three NPP leaders and the Electoral Commission, challenging the legitimacy of the president.

He questioned the authority of Mrs. Theodora Wood on Peace FM’s morning show “Kokrokoo”, asking “does the Chief Justice have authority to overrule the decision of the court? She doesn’t have even administratively.”

According to him, “once an administrative matter is determined by the court in session, it ceases to be a mere administrative matter. It can only be changed through a review therefore her decision to allow a live broadcast of the case is a breach of the process.”

He was therefore unhappy with the Chief Justice’s authority going against the initial decision of the court because in his view, she has “no power whatsoever to review a decision of the court. .