Stick to procedures – Chief Justice tells lawyers

There are legal avenues and processes for correcting decisions of the courts in Ghana and so lawyers must use these mechanisms to seek redress rather than resorting to the media, Chief Justice, Theodora Georgina Wood, has said.

She said lawyers’ first loyalty is to the cause of justice, something that must be on the minds of all practitioners.

Speaking at the ongoing 2016/2017 Annual BAR conference in Accra, on Tuesday September 13, Mrs Georgina Wood said: “I wish once again to caution learned colleagues against Media trials. Those media discourses come off to us as interviews, then they may decide to court sympathies to one spot and to incite public emotions against an opponent’s case on the bench.”

“In the best traditions of the profession, there are legal avenues and processes for correcting decisions of the court and, so, I will urge you to adopt these mechanisms to seek redress.”

The Minister of Justice and Attorney General, Marietta Brew Appiah-Oppong, who also spoke at the event, said “the speed with which matters are disposed off depends to a greater extent on the cooperation of lawyers, beside the nature of proceedings.

Employing technicalities to delay proceedings is the lawyer’s version of abuse of power and must be avoided.”

“In short, lawyers should contribute positively to the electoral process and should desist from giving disgruntled persons or losers the chance to scuttle the process when there is no merit. Lawyers must respect their profession in order not to be used by anyone,” she added.