The President of the Economic Community of West Africa States (ECOWAS) Court of Justice, Mr Edward Amoako Asante, has appealed to the Judiciary in member states to expedite the adjudication of election-related offenses.
He said the apparent hang back in the adjudication of electoral offenses before, during, and after elections must be expeditiously dealt with by the law to stern the dire consequences thereof.
Delivering an address at the 9th ‘Jurists’ Conference of the University of Cape Coast (UCC) Faculty of Law, Mr. Asante said the tenets of rule of law hinged on the supremacy of the law, equality before the law, accountability, fairness, and legal certainty.
Holding to that, would keep up the populace believing in the authority and the doctrine of the rule of law against arbitrariness, procedure, and transparency.
The conference was on the theme: “Consolidating democracy, the rule of law, and respect for the ballot in an era of good governance.”
The President of the ECOWAS Court of Justice said: “we should not allow the cases to drag on like any other case because the process involved in elections is time-bound.”
He noted that the legal ramifications sequel to lack of expeditious adjudication had stemmed from political frictions, uncertainties, and apprehensions to further deepen the unfounded rumours about the judiciary.
That, he noted, had cast a slur on the integrity and independence of the judicial system and rulings thereby confirming some erroneous misconceptions that the legal fraternity had been battling to dispel.
“We need an independent and assertive judiciary to engender public confidence. Our budget is vetted by Parliament and often slashed under the pretense of the “no money syndrome” – resulting in the judiciary getting about 20 to 50 per cent of its budget.
“This means we have to go begging from institutions, so how then do we support the judiciary to be democratic and independent,” he queried.
Professor Rosemond Boohene, the Pro Vice-Chancellor of UCC, asked Ghanaians to reflect on the country’s democratic pattern and choose the right type of democratic governance structure that was in tune with the people.
“As Ghanaians, history must always propel us to gird our loins to protect our democratic process. In retrospect, military regimes didn’t benefit Ghana, especially in terms of economic progress.
“Fortunately, for 30 years now , the country has succeeded in keeping the choice of governance within the will of its electorate, courtesy, the 1992 Constitution,” she said.
“Since the exercise of this political sovereignty had brought glory and fame to Ghana on the African continent, it behooves on us to put our shoulders to the wheel to have it sustained at all costs,” Prof Boohene said.
She urged Ghanaians, both home and abroad to get involved in sustaining national peace beyond elections.