Hot!
Judiciary not enemy of media – Chief Justice
The judiciary is not an enemy of the media rather the two entities are enjoined by the Constitution to fight for peace and development of this country, the Chief Justice, Mr. Kwasi Anin-Yeboah has said.
He has assured that the courts would do their best possible to ensure the smooth operations of the media but cautioned media practitioners and other communicators to respect the sanctity of the law courts.
Inaugurating the Judicial Press Corps as well as launching the Handbook for Journalists on Monday in Accra, Mr. Justice Anin-Yeboah who is the 14th Chief Justice of the Republic of Ghana since independence asked journalists not to feed the citizens with lies and half-truths but be circumspect in their reportage.
The official launch of the Judicial Press Corps is “feather in the cap” of the Chief Justice.
He said “The work of the Judiciary and the position it occupies within our constitutional architecture requires that information about the judiciary must be accurate and handled with utmost care not to deceive the public.
“When information which is not true about pending cases is spread about the judiciary, it undermines trust in our work and eats away at the very foundations of our Republic.
“We do not have any power or option of interfering with media freedom. Ghana must and will remain a bastion of freedom of speech.
“However, we must urgently address the issues of standards and propriety in relation to court reporting else we ourselves vulnerable to misinformation that will mislead the citizenry”.
The Acting Director of Judicial Training Institute and Justice of the Court of Appeal, His Lordship Dennis Adjei bemoaned the peddling of fake news or misinformation by some media practitioners which he said had become the order of the day.
In his brief remarks, Mr. Yaw Boadu-Ayeboafo, Chairman of the National Media Commission also advised practitioners to seek help from lawyers with regard to interpretation of legal jargons or terminologies other words referred to as legalese.
By Castro Zangina-Tong
The Member of Parliament for Nsawam Adoagyiri, Frank Annoh Dompreh, has expressed concern over delays in the release of the District Assemblies Common Fund, warning that the situation is stalling development across the country.
On his facebook page, he described as a matter of urgent national importance, the Minority Chief Whip pointed to what he sees as a growing crisis of unpaid contractors, abandoned projects, and halted infrastructure works in many districts.
He noted that several communities are grappling with half completed schools, unfinished health facilities, abandoned markets, deteriorating roads, and stalled sanitation projects.
According to him, many contractors who have executed projects for district assemblies have not been paid, forcing some construction firms to demobilise from sites while workers lose their jobs.
He stressed that the District Assemblies Common Fund is not a discretionary allocation but a constitutional requirement under Article 252 of the 1992 Constitution, intended to support development at the local level.
In his view, years of delayed releases and accumulated arrears have weakened district development financing and disrupted projects meant to improve living conditions in communities.
He further argued that some payments made in recent years were largely the settlement of old debts rather than funding for new or ongoing projects, a situation he believes has affected contractor confidence and local economic activity.
He described the issue as more than a budgetary challenge, characterising it as a development emergency and a governance concern.
He therefore urged the appropriate authorities to pay outstanding DACF arrears, settle contractors who have completed their work, and ensure that transfers to districts are automatic and predictable.
He maintained that decentralisation can only succeed when district assemblies receive adequate and timely funding to carry out development projects.
He emphasised that stalled projects directly affect ordinary citizens, since they rely on such infrastructure for education, healthcare, transportation, sanitation, and economic activities.
He called for renewed attention to grassroots development, insisting that national progress should not be concentrated only in major cities but extended to all communities.
By: Jacob Aggrey
Richard Appiah, the footballer who killed two children and stored part of their bodies in a fridge at Abesim in the Bono Region in 2021 has been handed a lifetime sentence.
This was after a five member panel of judges at the Accra High Court returned a verdict of guilty against the convict.
Appiah, 32, also a draughtsman would spend the rest of his life in prison after he was convicted of murder.
More more more
BY MALIK SULLEMANA
