We’ve left judges and their judgements too idle and for a long time in Ghana. I remember Prof. Atuguba released a research about how supreme court judges decide political cases in Ghana and the judges were instantly up in arms against him and his research. It’s all because our judges have been left untouched for so long such that criticizing them in a research or publication is seen as a “sinâ€.
However, a judge who gets criticized after judgement sits up irrespective of whether he was wrong or right.
Just knowing that your judgement could be the object of praise or scorn is a good check on a judge.
Amongst the arsenal of a lawyer after judgement has been delivered includes an Appeal, a Review Application, Setting Aside the judgement, and writing a review of the judgement in the form of legal articles for publication in law reports or opinion pieces in newspapers or legal journals.
A lawyer who doesn’t agree to a decision of a judge in a case he has handled can write an opinion piece on it or an article for publication. It doesn’t always have to be through an appeal or through some legal process.
Unfortunately due to the lack of publication opportunities to subject judgements to scrutiny, lots of our judges are asleep knowing that even if there’s an appeal which seems to be the only way, it may take forever.
Legal writing which we were thought in school includes writing opinion pieces on judgements as well, in whatever medium that is available, including todays social media; and lawyers must take advantage of it to advance the frontiers of our law and anyone who tries to stand in the way of social media would shoot himself in the foot like the way with all due respect someone said you can put your picture on your website but not on Facebook.
As a request, those in the teaching field, please be innovative, and aside law reports, we could get weekly or monthly journals where there would be a collection of legal opinions on judgements delivered from any court. It could even be a website to avoid printing costs.
Let’s get the heat on our judges, bar executives, judicial secretary, staffs, and all those connected to Justice delivery so that everyone can sit up.
All of us who have had further education in any of the advanced countries saw numerous avenues where legal opinions and scrutiny were exercised. Our failure to do same things here has basically turned our judges and other leaders within the legal fraternity into thin Gods.
Let’s light the fire🔥 and keep it burning. It’s part of freedom of speech.
By imlarbi