General News of Wednesday, 3 February 2021

Source: MyNewsGh

Your ‘colonial horse wigs’ don’t give you the right to tell lecturers to wear suits – Kwaku Azar to SC Judges

Judges in wigs - File Photo Judges in wigs - File Photo

Legal luminary and Professor, Stephen Kwaku Asare alias Kwaku Azar has called out Supreme Court justices for requiring that witnesses appearing before it to wear suits, saying that the fact that they(the justices) are stuck to wearing wigs to keep up with centuries-old British legal tradition does not justify their insistence that witnesses wear suits.

A justice of the Supreme Court in the ongoing 2020 Election Petition scolded a witness, Dr Michael Kpessa-Whyte, for not appearing before the Court in a suit. But Prof Azar has said that the demand to wear suits is unnecessary:

“Merely because your Lordships have opted to wear those anachronistic, expensive and uncomfortable white horse-hair wigs, to keep up with the centuries-old British legal tradition, is not sufficient grounds to invite lecturers to wear suits…” he said.

The Supreme Court has been criticized by many over their suggestion that wearing of suits is formal, and an acceptable way of dressing to the court.