Deployment of strategy, tactics may only win justice, but not peace - Prof. Gyampo

Senior Political Science Lecturer at the University of Ghana, Professor Ransford Gyampo has described as lazy thinking the act of relying on strategy and tactics to win court cases.

According to the lecturer, people who implore strategy in winning justice at the expense of merit are not just lazy thinkers but are also nation wreckers.

In a Facebook post sighted by GhanaWeb, Professor Gyampo questioned why a case being good or bad should not be determined on principle.

He warned that the deployment of strategy and tactics to win a case, sacrifices peace which serves as the engine for justice; and that it has the potential to throw a polarize country like Ghana into chaos.

It is not clear whether his comment has anything to do with the recent ruling by the Supreme Court turning down an objection by the petitioner in the ongoing election petition in which the first respondent (Madam Jean Mensa of the Electoral Commission) has decided to waive her right to testify.

Professor Gyampo has, however, made comments that suggest his support for the petitioner's call to have Madam Jean Mensa Mount the witness box for cross-examination.

Read his post on Facebook below:

In a very polarized country, should we use strategy to win a case or a case must be won on its own merit? Can’t a good case be won without a strategy that outwits and sacrifice peace?

Shouldn’t a good or a bad case be based on the principle of “res ipsa loquitur”! (The facts speaking for itself)

In conflict resolution, the deployment of strategy and tactics, may only win justice, but not peace. But justice without peace is like a car without engine.

In my honest view, we must rethink our overly adversarial adjudicatory system and focus on mechanisms for conflict resolution, that doesn’t deepen polarization, but keeps society together in peace.

A thinking society must not always pander to norms. We must be able to question and supplant the status quo, particularly if it is not serving any useful purpose. There certainly should be a way of dispute settlement at the courts, that wins both justice and peace.

Those who are only experts in fashioning out strategy to win justice, aren’t only lazy thinkers, but are also nation wreckers, as they are well aware that justice without peace can throw a whole nation into chaos. Their victory in securing only justice, should not be worth celebrating by right-thinking people in society.

Yaw Gyampo
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PAV Ansah Street
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Suro Nipa House
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