SUPREME COURT MUST REGULATE POLITICAL PARTIES

The Supreme Court of Ghana is the highest judicial body in Ghana. Ghana’s 1992 Constitution guarantees the independence and separation of the Judiciary from the Legislative and the Executive arms of government.

Before I zoom in on why I think Ghana’s Supreme Court must regulate some activities of political parties, I want to do a bit of justice in explaining the short information I wrote in my first paragraph on what the Supreme Court is. I am not an authority on governance issues and may not be able to say all about the Supreme Court and their mandates, a reason I have not written much on their mandates, thus I will not go deep into that. My brief explanation is therefore based on logic and what the Supreme Court must be doing in order to safeguard Ghana's peace.

The first sentence reads; The Supreme Court of Ghana is the highest judicial body in Ghana. The word ‘highest’ which in other sense means Supreme depicts the level of power that office holds in the country.

The second sentence reads; Ghana’s 1992 Constitution guarantees the independence and separation of the Judiciary from the Legislative and the Executive. The words 'independence' and 'separation' in this context means these three arms are not the same. Mind you this is a guarantee provided by the highest law of the land which is our 1992 Constitution.

Let me therefore site an example each of the independence and separation bit that the Constitution guarantees in the statement above. (I believe many of you reading this may have better or perfect examples that best explains this). An instance where the Supreme Court is said to be independent is that The Supreme Court is a body on its own where their activities are not attached or regulated by both the Legislature and the Executive. This brings about the separation between these hierarchies. One main demarcation is that officials of the Judiciary are not voted for or elected into office unlike the Legislature and Executive who is voted for every four years in a general election.

Becoming a Supreme Court judge requires that the fellow has integrity and is of high moral standards. Meanwhile officials of the Legislature and the Executive mostly politicians are not strictly required to have such qualities to contest for elections.

I could go on and on giving instances on the independence and separation of the Judiciary from the Legislative and the Executive. So let me pause here and zoom in now on why I am of the view that Ghana’s Supreme Court must regulate activities of our political parties.

Note, the judiciary provides judgment even when officials of both the Legislature and the Executive have an issue. A typical instance is the 2012 General Election petition. At this point, you will agree with me that the Judiciary is powerful than both the Legislature and the Executive.

Politicians fall within the jurisdiction of Legislature and Executive. These are officials who are not appointed to their various positions but instead contest for elections for them to be voted into those ranks. Be it the President, Ministers or Members of Parliament. The competitive nature of this process gives way for officials of these two arms to engage in activities that can jeopardize the peace of this nation.

In the history of many countries where political wars and chaos erupts are mostly due to the activities of members of the Legislature and the Executive. Same applies to Ghana, the peace of this country can be considered to be in jeopardy if the activities of officials who fall under these two hierarchies are not regulated and curbed. Politicians are one section of human species who love power more than any other item, making them do everything within their means to hold on to power or take over power.

As we speak now there is clash between NDC and NPP supporters at Zabzugu over the voter registration exercise. This and many more confusions and minor chaos are happening at different places across the country. Apparently the voter transfer exercise should not involve political parties but that directive is not been adhered to by politicians and their supporters. Orchestrators engaging in this voter transfer malpractice are the various Members of Parliament. (This answers the question of anyone who may argue on my earlier assertion that Legislative and Executive Council members are not actually required to be of integrity and of high moral standards like that of the Judiciary. I am sorry to say this but a lot of malpractices being carried out by politicians do not portray integrity and high moral life standards).

The current chaos in Zabzugu resulted from two political parties ignoring directives of the Electoral Commission. I heard the Public Relations Director of the EC in an interview claiming political parties were invited to witness the transfer for reasons of transparency. But the intention of the EC has been thrown out into the dustbin where political parties especially the two large parties have turned the exercise into transfer malpractice. The main allegation was various political parties are alleged to be bringing people from outside the constituency to transfer their votes to that constituency.

This is actually not the first time political parties have sort of ignored directives of the Electoral Commission. But these political parties often turn around to accuse the Electoral Commission for wrong doings. (This is where I think groups such as LMVCA, Occupy Ghana and co. must condemn the political parties. Not only finding interest in vilifying the Electoral Commission.)

At this point I will draw my first curtains. If political parties especially the two large parties have on several occasions ignored directives given by the Electoral Commission, then we have no guarantee that they will continue to abide by incoming directives. Everyone will bear with me that news of such confusions is not good especially in an election year where tensions are so high. It is in this light that I think the Supreme Court should step in and regulate these political parties. The chaos in Zabzugu and other places may be burning beneath even after calm is restored. And this can trigger to other chaos getting into the Elections or during the elections. If the law is made to work where the Supreme Court backs the Electoral Commission’s directive, I am not sure we will witness such chaos or just a little of it since perpetrators are aware they may face jail terms.  

Tensions getting so high lead me to another reason why the Supreme Court must regulate the activities of the political parties. Comments made by the various political parties are tantamount to possible unrest in the country. Elsewhere in countries where there have been or there is political unrest, some were triggered by just a comment made by one party official or the other. I think the Supreme Court must regulate comments made by political parties where victims of comments that are detrimental to the peace of this country must be taken to the law court.

Imagine the recent vilification of the EC by Let My Vote Count Alliance and other pressure groups. Many of these comments in a way damaged the reputation of the EC and its Chair. Even as it stands now, there are citizens who by hearing such comments have lost trust and may not trust the EC to give us fair judgment come December 7. This perception in the minds of citizens can result in chaos during the elections.

Other comments made by high ranking officials of certain parties such as party supporters after voting should not go home but instead stay over at the polling station to guard votes as if their life depended on it is inappropriate. Contrary to this, the Electoral Commission demands that voters should go home or stay away from the polling station after voting meanwhile few may come over to witness the counting process. Is this not a situation where political parties are ignoring a directive of the EC thereby misinterpreting the EC? The probability of chaos and confusion at these polling stations are very high if all supporters of the various political parties sit there to 'so called' guard their votes.

These and others comments, allegations and claims which we all hear every day and can testify to are dangerous to our peace especially in a tension-filled election year. It takes a moment, an act or a comment for political chaos to spark in any country meanwhile Ghana is not different from those countries. We do not have to sit down unconcerned and allow political parties to plunge this country into chaos. It is obvious they will not openly charge their supporters to cause confusion but their actions and comments can lead to unrest.

In as much as we have trust in our security officials to calm tempers down and guard this country before, during and after the elections, prevention they say is better than cure.

Since the Supreme Court is the highest judicial body of this land and are at the best position to uphold and guard this country, I think officials of the Supreme Court must begin to condemn, criticize and regulate some activities of the various political parties. Ghana is bigger than all political parties; same way the Supreme Court is powerful than all political parties so I humbly urge that they begin exercising that power.

I think the Supreme Court’s involvement in this will go a long way to assure citizens, investors and the entire world of Ghana’s peace going into the December polls.

GHANA FOR PEACE!!!

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Please do well to share your constructive views, comments and contributions. 

MEDIA HOUSE OWNERS BECOMING A THREAT TO JOURNALISM.

Journalism is defined by the dictionary as an occupation of reporting, writing, editing, photographing, or broadcasting news, or of conducting any news organization as a business. 
Journalism is a very noble profession due to its educative, informative and entertaining nature. Greater percentage of the public relies on the media for information which they deem as very real and true. Professionals in this aspect of life turn to become middle men between public and private institutions and the people, thus a very delicate and important activity. In Ghana where there is a high level of press freedom coupled with the fun and fame that comes with journalism, a greater section of the youth aspire to become journalists in the future. I am no exception because as a primary pupil where I did not even know that talking on radio was called journalism, I will always say that I want to work on radio anytime I am asked what I want to be in future. At the time, distinguished names like Komla Dumor were in the lime light and I will always tell my family that I want to become like Komla Dumor. It was later in JHS that I learnt more about what journalism was, a reason I opted to offer General Arts in High School. In High School too, more than half of my classmates wished to become journalists, meaning a lot of the youth in Ghana see the profession as a worthy one.

Yes indeed, journalism is a noble and powerful profession. Greater part of the media landscape is made up of journalists who perform various duties of the entire profession from reporting, writing, editing to broadcasting, presenting, etc. Thus if the media which in some circumstances considered as being a very crucial section in national development and a supposed fourth arm of government,then professionals who work in these media houses can be said to be powerful. People every now and then are glued to their radio and TV sets just to listen to what information is trending which they deem very true and accurate. It is very difficult to convince a people to change their mind over something that they hear on radio or watched on TV. Meaning people act in direction to a lot of information that comes from the journalist. These and other reasons are why the profession of journalism is such a crucial one. 

But gradually, the journalism profession is going down the drain where a lot of the youth today are somewhat not enthused or highly interested in becoming journalists. And one main reason for this decline is due to the lack of proper gain and care that the journalist gets from his or her employers. Not to shadow the issue, the profession of journalism does not pay in Ghana, a reason for the high decline in interest. In this piece, I will apportion the blame of this decline to media house owners. A greater percentage of journalists are not paid well in Ghana which I deem very worrying and a threat to this noble profession. As for what accounts for that, I am unable to determine. In most media houses, only the top notches who after struggling for so many years get paid well. Others are those who get poached from other media organisations. If one is not in this category, then you may either be paid less or not paid at all. Aside passion, every individual in life wishes to benefit from whatever job he or she does so as to take care of him or herself and the family. Thus no matter the passion for the profession, journalists will want to live and live comfortable with what they do. But it is unfortunate that in this part of the world, journalists are one of the least paid in the job market. The 
situation is so bad that at the least opportunity, journalists who should be working in their field accept offers from other areas in the job sector.

One reflection of this is the low interest in enrolling to offer journalism in our institutions. A typical 
example is the number of students offering journalism at the Ghana Institute of Journalism. The school offers two main courses which are journalism and public relations. From my little research, I have noticed that people prefer to offer Public Relations to Journalism. It is somewhat surprising to know that students who are already working and given the opportunity to offer a top- up course in either Public Relations or Journalism are opting for Public Relations over Journalism. Funny enough, most of these workers are journalists working in the various media houses. So one will ask, why will someone already a journalist refuse to offer a course in that area but rather offer a sister course which is Public Relations. My little interaction with some of these students reveal that the journalism job is not paying, thus a study in Public Relations will offer them the advantage of leaving their respective media houses to take up jobs in institutions that may need the services of PR 
practitioners. As at now, the level 300 top-up Public Relations class of the Ghana Institute of Journalism is divided into A and B due to the large number of entrants whiles the Journalism class is not even half of either A or B of the PR class. 

Another reflection is how quick journalists accept offers from institutions different from media houses. Even very renowned and excelling journalists leave their respective media houses and are now seen working for the various public and private institutions. A few seem to be doing the journalism job as rather a part time activity. Like I indicated earlier, I will want to blame the owners and managers of the various media houses for not paying most of their employees well. I have not worked as a manager in any media house before but I have worked in a media house and have an idea how much media houses make from companies who come to advertise with them. Indeed, a lot of money is charged for placing an advert on any program in a media house especially when the program has so much listenership. Placing adverts on the various media platforms is one key way of making sales in Ghana thus every company irrespective of how small or big they are strive to advertise their products and services . So how come the huge amount charged by media owners does not reflect on the pay check of their workers; the very people who work tirelessly with passion and creativity to bring listenership to their various programs which in turn attracts the sponsorships.  This is a job that does not attract pension pay or any ex-gratia, thus at the time of working, I think the journalist needs to be paid well so that he or she can be able to cater for him or herself and the family. 

From another angle, the low pay check given to journalists is having a serious effect on the profession as a whole. It is no news that journalists accept some form of tip or allowance popularly known as ‘’soli’’. This allowance which is given by institutions who invite journalists to come and cover their events is a threat to the truth and accuracy ingredient that the profession holds. Some institutions go to the extent of influencing the journalists after giving out ‘soli’ on what angle he or she should report the story from. Thus, the journalist may cover up some truths. This menace is not good which I see as an indictment of the integrity of the profession. But the inadequate monies paid as salaries make this a well-known activity where some journalists even go to the extent of chasing institutions for their ‘’soli’’. Failure to pay may hinder the institution’s story from getting broadcast or given less attention in time of broadcasting or publication. But when people who 
make the story begin to control how it should be broadcasted, then we are in danger because it takes away that impartiality nature of the journalist which is one of its main attribute.

I could go on and on about how the low pay checks issue is becoming a serious threat to the interest of journalism and the integrity of the profession. I therefore plead and urge media houses to treat their workers well because these are the same people who work hard for them to make money.

Another #Reality from my Medulla Oblongata!

Thanks for reading, you comments, criticisms and contributions are welcomed.