The Supreme Court has issued a stern warning to lawyers speaking for various parties in the ongoing election petition to desist from divulging privilege information heard in chambers to the public.
A judge on the panel specifically mentioned Abraham Amaliba, who speaks for the first and third respondents, to be circumspect on what he says outside the court.
According to the judge, Mr Amaliba and other spokespersons who engage in similar behavior would strictly be dealt with.
“The court will not deal leniently [with persons, especially lawyers] who misrepresent facts in court,” he stressed.
Adding his voice to the concerns raised by the judge, counsel for the third respondent, Tsatsu Tsikata suggested that accuracy cannot be detached from the work of journalists and lawyers who report on the court proceedings.
“We have a lot of concern about statement being made by grossly misrepresenting things that are said even in open court.”
But the kind of behavior put up by some lawyers who are supposed to know better as part of their profession “should not be countenanced”.
He claimed some political commentators put into the public domain palpable false information even to the extent of manufacturing statements and attributing them to the judges.
“We need accurate reportage in these things it is very important,” he remarked.
Justice William Atuguba, the presiding judge added concluding remarks. He said he found it “baffling” that any lawyer would “feel more committed to any organization more than the profession which is the foundation of his life”.
A “whole presidency is at stake” after Ghananians voted in December 2012, he added.
Atuguba noted it was up to the legal profession to help resolve this impasse.
This proved that the legal profession is central to the stability of any democratic tradition, he said.
