Don’t encourage hateful speeches against Judges – Twum-Barimah tells media

A private legal practitioner, Alexander Twum-Barimah, has urged Ghanaians to have faith in the judicial system of the country.

He said justice is still served in the courts despite the perception among a section of the Ghanaian populace that justice in recent times is perverted often.

Speaking on the Morning Update on TV XYZ Monday morning, Twum-Barimah urged the media and Ghanaians in general not to pass hateful comments about judgements given by the courts if a ruling doesn’t go the way they want.

“Judgements will be criticised no matter what…but it should not be targeted at the person [ who passed the judgement],” he told host Eric Ahianyo.

To him, there will always be opinions about rulings of a court but that should be done devoid of insults that are targeted at the Judges.

Twum-Barimah further noted that when a judgement does not go the way one wants it, it does not mean justice wasn’t served.

This comes on the back of a caution from the Judicial Service of Ghana to all media houses in the country to desist from publishing hateful statements against judges.

The Judicial Service said their concerns stemmed from “the publication and/or permitting the publication of a series of incendiary, hateful and offensive statements, and speeches on their various platforms against the Justices.”

“This concern has been heightened by the flurry of statements and speeches directed at our client’s Justices, especially after the commencement of hearing of the election petition in the suit intituled John Dramani Mahama v Electoral Commission & Nana Addo,” the statement added.

Twum-Barimah, who agreed with the statement, also noted that it was a step to prevent Ghanaians from losing trust on the Judicial system and thus urged the media not to encourage attacks on the Justices.