<<Print>>

Sam George Nertey, a member of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) communication team, has questioned the Chief Justice�s directive for the live broadcast of proceedings in the on-going petition hearing challenging the validity of the 2012 general elections. He asked whether it is not �against the principle of no interference with regards the judicial process�. �As part of standard procedure, it is known that when a panel is empanelled at the Supreme Court level to hear a case, they are no longer subject to direction from any individual in this country because we do not want anybody to have undue influence on the Lord Justices or any Judge that is supposed to sit on a matter,� he said. The NDC communicator could not understand why the Chief Justice could unilaterally order for the live broadcast of Court proceedings after an oral request by Lawyers of the petitioner had been turned downed by the panel of Judges sitting on the case. Sam George Nertey made this submission during a panel discussion on Adom FM on Tuesday. The petitioners in the case are; Nana Akufo-Addo, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia and Jake Otanka Obetsebi-Lamptey whiles the respondents are Prez John Dramani Mahama whose election is being challenged, the Electoral Commission (EC) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC). Though George Nertey believes that a live transmission of proceedings in the Supreme Court would not affect the substance of the matter being adjudicated upon, he was of the view that the CJ must come out to set the parameters for cases for which live broadcast could be needed. �Because the next thing you would hear is that, someone would also request for a live broadcast of Kpegah and Akufo-Addo�s case,� he said. In his words, the live telecast of the case �is going to put a stop to the skewed reportage that comes out of the court case because every time after court sittings, you hear both sides also come and address the press and you ask yourself if it is the same case these two people are contesting�.