Digesting The Laws Of Ghana: The Role Of The Media

How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? – Romans 10:14

Every civilised society finds it necessary to regulate the conduct of its members by making them to refrain from acts that are detrimental to society and by guiding them to perform acts which are beneficial to societal growth and development. The unawareness of the existence of such laws is not an excuse for breaking it. This is because, on the grounds of public policy, a mistake of law - even an honest one is not accepted as a defence. With this broad objective, the concept, ignorance of the law is no excuse is still operative in all civilised states. This maxim captures the general attitude of the law in respect of which mistake of law: ignorance or lack of understanding of the existing law has never been regarded as a defence in a court action or legal enquiry. This maxim is intended to make individuals in a state to make conscious effort of knowing the law. Individuals in a state are therefore obliged to be abreast of that country’s legal system and its development.

The principle however continues to be lashed with criticisms. These criticisms are generally grounded on the fact that our disadvantaged brothers and sisters in the hinterland are treated, by this maxim, with the same knowledge of the law and its legal sanction like their counterpart city dwellers or even like the parliamentary draftsmen, who draft the laws, when in brush with the law. This is truly unfair! Nonetheless, the maxim is considered as the lesser of two evils. The greater evil is that if ignorance of the law were to be an excuse, everyone who offends the law will plead it and this plea is said to be highly difficult to refute. In the words of John Selden, ‘ignorance of the law excuses no man; not because that all men know the law, but (it is) an excuse every person man will plead, and no man can tell how to confute them’. I therefore consider public legal education and other public spirited legal services, especially through the mass media, as one of the unique facilities that can mitigate the seemingly harsh application of the maxim. This suggestion becomes more appealing if one dispassionately accepts the fact that there are relatively very few legal luminaries in this country. Besides, high rate of illiteracy is still a challenge to the growth and development of Ghana.

The Awareness of the Laws of Ghana and the Legal Fraternity

The Laws of Ghana are, undoubtedly, relatively known to the average persons of ordinary intelligence, who are keenly interested in the growth and development of this country, which is obviously one of the greatest emerging economies in the 21st Century. Indeed, Chapter Four of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana explicitly sets out the sources of law of Ghana. The Constitution itself is full of supreme provisions of which the provisions of all other laws must bow! It is however worth conceding that very few persons in Ghana can appreciate the import of these laws by reasons of apathy and illiteracy with the exception of prsons in the legal fraternity. With respect to even the members of the legal fraternity, currently, the number of our beloved learned friends at the bar and the erudite judges at the bench is fairly microscopic as compared to the number that Ghana needs at this critical stage of her development and her real manifestation as a true force to reckon with in Africa, comity of nations and international politics. It is a fact that today most of our public institutions, especially law courts, and agencies across this country are in dire need of staff with legal brains. We therefore hope that with the right time, and the concerted efforts of the government, the Judicial Service of Ghana and the General Legal Council, this teething challenge will soon be history. Therefore, in the face of this exigent challenge, the reason for the absence or the abysmally low level of public legal education and pro bono legal services in this country is readily apparent, although it needs not remain as a mask to shirk the responsibility upon our friends in the legal fraternity. Consequently, there aren’t enough preachers of the legal ‘gospel’ in Ghana. How then shall individuals in Ghana appreciate the import of the working of the country’s legal system when they do not “believe”? And how shall they believe in something they have not heard? And how shall they hear without preachers of the legal ‘gospel’?

The Legal Aid Scheme

It is the interest of justice that in all civilised nations, the world over, legal aid schemes have been introduced to assign counsel to the pro-poor or the illiterate in society. According to Karl Max, ‘justice should not be shut to the poor’. Legal aid schemes therefore tend to ameliorate the adverse effect that the application of the mistake of law maxim may have on some pro-poor and illiterate accused by freely assigning counsel to them to facilitate the preparation of their defence. Justice Taylor in the case of Okerie alias Ozuzu v Republic opined that, ‘in order to safeguard the liberty of the citizenry, it is essential that the indigent and illiterate persons, ignorant of the legal process and the accused of serious crimes carrying harsh penalties, were not left to their devices but be assigned counsel by way of the legal aid’.

It is worth noting, however, that legal aid schemes are also of utmost assistance to even the literate layman who for financial reasons cannot afford the services of a lawyer in a court action. Sutherland J. in Powell v. Alabama eruditely stated: ‘Even the intelligent and the educated layman has small and sometimes no skill in the science of law. If charged with crime, he is incapable, generally of determining for himself whether the indictment is good or bad. He is unfamiliar with the rules of evidence. Left without the aid of counsel, he may be put in trial without a proper charge, and convicted upon incomplete evidence irrelevant to the issue or otherwise inadmissible. He lacks both the skill and knowledge adequately to prepare his defence, even though he has a perfect one. He requires the guiding hand of counsel at every step in the proceedings against him…Though he be not guilty, he faces the dangers of conviction because he does not know how to establish his innocence’.

Legal aid may therefore be defined as free or inexpensive legal services provided to a person who for financial reasons cannot afford to pay the full price for the services of a lawyer. In Ghana for example, legal aid may be granted by the courts under section 114 of the Courts Act, 1993 (Act 459), or by the Legal Aid Board under the Legal Aid Scheme Act, 1997 (Act 542). However, the operation of the scheme has not been able to meet the needs of individuals who are entitled to this privilege. This is because of inadequate financial resources to engage competent lawyers to take up the cases of such persons. It is recommended to the Government of Ghana to adequately resource the scheme to enable it meet the needs of majority of persons who satisfy the criteria set under the scheme.

The of Role NCCE and CHRAJ The drafters of the 1992 Constitution deserve the commendation of all Ghanaians for certain insightful provisions they put in it which, in a way, provide some solutions to the need to propagate the legal gospel. The Supreme Llaw in very clear and unambiguous terms has established among others, some independent institutions to remedy and to whittle down, if not to eradicate, the harsh tone of the mistake of law maxim. They include but not limited to National Commission for Civic Education (N.C.C.E) and Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ). NCCE among its functions is to: create and sustain within Ghana the awareness of the principles and objectives of the 1992 Constitution; educate and encourage the public to defend the Constitution at all times, against all forms of abuse; inculcate in the citizenry the awareness of their civic responsibilities and an appreciation of their rights and obligations as free people; and so forth. CHRAJ on its part is mandated, aside its usual role of investigating complaint of human rights abuses and administrative impropriety, to educate the public on human rights and freedom.

It is a heartrending observation that NCCE and CHRAJ are probably yet to launch this campaign on a large scale. Their activities in relation to creating awareness on human rights among Ghanaians are below expectation. The impact of their activities, in respects of public legal education, if any, seems not to be reflecting in the life of most people in Ghana. Majority of the citizenry, for instance, are totally unaware of their fundamental rights guaranteed under the Constitution making it possible for some lawless conducts to be inflicted upon them without even knowing where to seek remedy.

Today, in the Ghanaian society, corruption seems to be accepted as an ordained custom of which most people do not find anything wrong with as far as it enables them to achieve what they want. The unjust in our midst are manipulating the ignorant. Of a truth, the importance of these institutions is highly unknown to these victims. It is therefore recommended that NCCE and CHRAJ should redouble their efforts in their quest to educate Ghanaians on their rights and freedoms. It is only when this is done that Ghanaians can openly challenge, lawfully, others who might attempt to breach their freedom. Besides, Ghanaians will tend to benefit and understand the tenets of rule of law and democracy of which they will be willing to support its development in this country. The government, corporate bodies and the well-to-do should support these institutions financially, logistically or in any other manner to enable them fulfil their important obligations under the Constitution. All in all, I candidly think NCCE and CHRAJ should wake up from their slumber!

The Role of the Ghanaian Media The list of positive roles that the media continue to play, especially, in securing and protecting the rights and liberties of the citizenry is tall and inexhaustive. For example, its quest in the fight against police ineptitude including police brutality and corruption, mob action, domestic violence, sexual assault and all forms of child abuse attest to this fact. In spite of these laudable roles, the fact that the Ghanaian media is too critical in especially the field of sports and partisan politics should humbly be admitted. Mostly, destructive criticisms take their field day in their reportage. The attitude of some media houses in relation to the Ghanaian legal system including the judiciary, the least said about them the better. Besides, it generally gives no or little attention to the need to facilitate the preaching of the Ghanaian legal gospel.

However, to be fair with the Ghanaian media, a closer examination of its reportage will reveal that reasonable attention is at least given to the legal actions and proceedings in our law courts, thus, in a way, helping to inform and educate the populace on the exigent issues and cases at the legal arena. It needs to be pointed out, however, that most these reports only concern high profile political cases and sensational matters. Of course, one will argue that it is the media that decides how to exercise its editorial freedom. Notwithstanding, I believe that any editorial freedom that is exercised in defiance or devoid of enhancing the rights and freedoms of all persons is supremely blasphemous to the ethics of the media profession and indeed the greatest indignity to the dignity of all persons.

Modestly speaking, some other media houses in this country continue to be true ambassadors of the legal gospel of Ghana. Not only do they, by their attitude, encourage the writing and publication of legal ‘scriptures’, but also sponsor and facilitate public legal education programmes on their waves. THE MIRROR for instance should be commended for its column dubbed: Mirror Lawyer. THE DAILY GRAPHIC has also done well in this direction especially in the year 2009 with its consistent column entitled: Daily Graphic Law Digest with Dr. Bimpong-Buta, a barrister at law. The publication on The Case of Pan Latrines for example made an interesting read. Although this latter column mainly publishes the most recent decisions of the Supreme Court, I think the strategy is a workable one insofar as preaching the legal gospel is concerned. This is because it tends to deepen public confidence in the judiciary. A closer examination of the publications will reveal that cases are effective and speedily dispensed with. Besides, it enhances public legal education as the Supreme Court, in the exercise of its original interpretative and enforcement mandate, adds flesh to our abstract law. JEA Mills, as he then was, in his article, Ghana Courts and the Companies Code, rightly said that the Code represents the skeleton of the law hence the responsibility of the courts to supply the flesh to cover the bare bones of the law. To conclude, we should make conscious effort to digest our laws in the name of Ghana, humanity and necessity.

The writer is the author of Persecutions are Promotions and If You Think of Your Opposition You Lose Your Position. He is also the 2009 National Best Student Author/Writer.