Announcing the Verdict: A Suggestion

The Supreme Court has shown that it is an institution that should not be messed with, and Ghana is better off for that. In hearing the case regarding the challenge to the 2012 Presidential Election, the Court has been most careful in protecting its integrity by remaining fair and firm in its relations with the main litigants and political establishment in general.

It took the unprecedented decision of allowing the sittings to be telecast live. The decision had its detractors and admirers but it did succeed in bringing a certain sense of openness and accountability to the proceedings.

In the same vein, because it brought to the fore the uncompromising partisanship gripping the nation, it also heightened tensions and opened up the pre-election fears of violence and breakdown of law and order. These fears are manifested in the overwhelming calls for peace after the verdict.

We cannot pretend that the petition has not divided the nation with some ready to do battle when the court announces a verdict that does not favour them. The court should not and cannot be unmindful of that for at the end of the day, the decision must hold us together.

It is with these fears in mind that we wish to suggest to the court that announcing its decision should be as innovative as the decision to allow cameras into the court. It should employ the new media technology of posting information online. This way, it will prevent the massing of party supporters at the court premises, for no matter what security cordon is laid around the court, massed groups of uncompromising political opponents would find ways of confronting each other, which could then spark off the “energetic remedies” we all want to avoid. The above, Your Lordships, is our humble suggestion as a friend of the Court.

God Bless Our Homeland Ghana.