Mr. Ekuoba Gyasi, a private legal practitioner, has emphasised the importance of Ghana having strict regulations in place for how contempt is dealt with in our law courts.
He stated that it was necessary to regulate the manner in which the court was granted discretion in dealing with contempt issues.
He asserted we need to bring finality to this matter, especially when judges are allowed to use their discretion in determining the level of contempt.
Mr. Gyasi noted that although there are case laws to determine how contempt is dealt with, some judges can decide to depart from that.
He believes the Supreme Court would have to deal with it or the country must find ways to regulate it.
The lawyer was speaking with Sir Richie on ‘As it is in Ghana’ on Rainbow Radio 92.4FM, UK, and Rainbow Radio 87.5FM, Ghana.
‘’We need to look at how we can regulate the discretion exercised by our courts in connection with contempt cases. If a judge decides to treat contempt as a criminal case or civil or handle it as he or she pleases, we need to bring finality to some of these things. Even though there are case laws that tell how contempt should be handled, another judge can decide that this is how I want it to be done. So the Supreme Court would have to finally settle on this thing or we have proper regulation.”
He explained that in the prosecution of adjudication of all criminal cases, reference is made to the Criminal and Other Offences Act or any other law with prescribed punishment explicitly captured, but contempt is not in any of our law books. There is no stated punishment that can be prescribed. It is the discretion of the court. We need to take a look at this and ensure we do not leave it to the discretion of the judge.
He was responding to the decision by the Koforidua High Court to hold Akwatia Member of Parliament Ernest Kumi in contempt of court.
Mr. Gyasi said the judge can use the discretion in handing the MP a jail term because we have no sanctions prescribed in our law books.
“For every crime you commit, when convicted, you may be sentenced to a minimum of two years or a maximum of four years, but when it comes to contempt, we do not have those strict regulations that provide some guidelines. So, as a nation, we must regulate that aspect of the law,” he said.
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana
