Election petition case: SC Judges okay live telecast

General News of Tuesday, 16 April 2013

Source: radioxyzonline.com

Supreme Court Justices Walk

The Supreme Court has okayed the live coverage of the election petition case hearing which is currently ongoing.

Chief Justice Georgina Theodora Woode gave the directive on Monday that the hearing be telecast live by the nation’s broadcaster GTV and Radio Ghana.

Before the commencement of the substantive hearing on Tuesday, the nine panel judge unanimously ruled that all the court proceedings on the election petition case be broadcast live on TV.

Justice Atuguba who gave the ruling stated that elections in the country comes with a lot of tension and acrimony and therefore it was proper for the proceedings to be telecast live on TV.

He said with the live telecast everyone would be offered the opportunity to see what is actually happening and know that the Court is hiding nothing from the public.

The live broadcast of the case follows an advocacy by the Executive Director of Policy Think Tank Danquah Institute to that effect.

Mr Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko insisted his main opposition New Patriotic Party’s 2012 Flagbearer’s petition alongside two others, was too significant a case to be heard on the blindside of the media.

Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, together with his 2012 running mate Dr Mahmoud Bawumia and his Party’s National Chairman Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey, are challenging the validity of the election results declared by the country’s electoral commission after the December 7 and 8 general elections.

The petitioners argue that the elections were fraught with unpardonable flaws which must not be left uninvestigated.