Court rulings good for democracy

An Accra-based legal practitioner, Ace Ankomah says one of the greatest highlights of the year 2009 was the robustness of the judicial system. He said some of the rulings of particularly the Human Rights and Appeals Courts have been phenomenal. “In many of the high profile cases where concepts like the right to counsel are now so firmly hit in our books that no government agency can deny a person the right to counsel, the freedom of movement, the fact that the mere statement in your passport…that the passport belongs to the state doesn’t mean the state can by that ownership of the passport deprive you of your freedom of movement. That has been established,” he told Joy FM’s Super Morning Show host Kojo Oppong-Nkrumah. He said the rulings were “major landmarks in our human rights jurisprudence and general legal jurisprudence that cannot go without mention.” Mr Ankomah expressed the hope that judges will continue to dispense justice without fear or favour. That, he emphasised was necessary for the development of the country. For, “if we don’t continue in our stride to be a nation that is governed by law, then we are not getting anywhere.” According to the legal practitioner, 2009 was a foundation year which has to be built on, but he cautions that if in 2010 we are still building the foundation, them we are lost. Story by Malik Abass Daabu/Myjoyonline.com/Ghana