General News of Saturday, 23 June 2018
Source: Graphic.com.gh
2018-06-23
Affail Monney, GJA President
The Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) has condemned the decision of a magistrate of the Accra Central District Court, Afua Sackey to order the seizure of the mobile phones of some journalists who were covering proceedings in her court.
A statement signed by GJA President, Affail Monney said “Her cold attitude and orders undermine Ghana’s fledgling democracy and development.
It, therefore, urged the Chief Justice, Justice Sophia Akuffo to call the magistrate to order so as not to undermine the cordial relationship that exists between the judiciary and the media.
Afua Sackey, who was presiding over committal proceedings of the Director of Obengfo Hospital on Tuesday, June 19, 2018, ordered her Court Warrant Officer (CWO) to seize the phones of all journalists covering the proceeding.
According to the magistrate, journalists do not have any right to cover the proceedings in her courtroom.
She previously expressed reservations about the presence of journalists in her court and ordered the seizure of their phones without provocation.
Ms. Sackey has always been hostile to journalists covering the case involving the director of Obengfo Hospital.
At the last proceedings, she ordered the journalists to report to the court’s registrar for clearance before she would allow them to sit in her court.
Her order was alien to the journalists who have been covering court proceedings over the years.
During proceedings, the journalists, out of courtesy, prompted the CWO of their presence in the court and he quickly informed the magistrate.
He immediately rushed back and asked all the journalists to surrender their phones and the journalists, who did not know what prompted the seizure, calmly handed over the devices.
The CWO sent all the phones to the judge who kept them throughout the proceedings.
The temper of the journalists heightened when the judge decided to release the phones to them after the accused persons had left the court premises.
The GJA said “It’s very strange and deviates from the norm of asking all visitors in court, not only journalists, to put their phones off or on silence.”
The statement pointed out that in a technologically savvy society like Ghana, it’s possible for anybody in court to record proceedings against the rules of court and even leak it in both traditional and social media.
“So for Her Worship to single out journalists for restriction by impounding their mobile phones, leaving intact the liberty of other visitors in court to possess their mobile phones belies her concern to prevent recordings of proceedings. Otherwise her order would have been far-reaching to include all visitors,” the GJA statement added.
“If she has any evidence it would be good for her to make same known so that a solution could be found to the problem instead of imposing restrictions on journalists.”
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