Judgement Debt Commissioner worried about sensational headlines
The Sole Commissioner of the Judgement Debt Commission, Mr Justice Yaw Apau, has condemned the sensational headlines that some editors give to stories from the commission’s sittings.
Advertisement
He said often the reporters captured the essence of what transpired at the hearing of the commission, but some of the editors deliberately wrote 'outrageous' headlines with political twists.
"I do not want the editors to use the commission as an extension of their political ball game," he cautioned.
He also expressed dissatisfaction with the way some media commentators politicised stories from the commission and accused him of bias.
Mr Apau, who conveyed his sentiments before the start of the commission's hearing yesterday, said he might consider opting out of the commission if the politicisation and sensationalism persisted.
National exercise
The Sole Commissioner also said the commission’s work was a national exercise, which was to establish the errors made in the judgement of cases against all Ghanaians, irrespective of their political affiliation.
"Everybody is involved. We are all guilty. So don't be singling out people because of the political agenda that you have," he stressed.
Mr Apau said he was not a politician and that he was not at the commission to target or expose any politician as reported in sections of the media.
"I am not here to underrate or run down anybody," he said.
Examples
He said, for instance, that some media organisations reported that he had lambasted Mr Joe Ghartey, a former Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, while others also claimed that he was targeting the 2012 flag bearer of the opposition New Patriotic Party in the 2012 elections, Nana Akufo-Addo, who is also a former Attorney-General and Minister of Justice.
Again, Mr Apau said, some commentators accused him of not asking Mr Tsatsu Tsikata, a former Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), tough questions when he appeared before the commission to answer questions on the sale of the drill ship.
He said Mr Tsikata's role was different from that of Mr K.T. Hammond in the case, and added that it was legal standard that lawyers and judges depended on testimonies to pose their questions.
He said in a recent report, some newspapers had incorrectly reported that the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning had gone ahead to effect the payment of a fine in contravention of a directive by the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice.
Discouragement
The Sole Commissioner said such sensational reports would discourage the Ministry of Finance and other relevant bodies from providing important documents to the commission and added that it was the witnesses who helped the commission to get to the root of the cases through the provision of their documents.
He apologised to the Ministry of Finance for the inaccurate reports and said, "I don't want the media reports to clip your wings."
Cases
The case between the Attorney-General's Department and the Ghana Telecom Malaysia transaction billed to be heard at the commission could not be heard because the Attorney-General's Department had written to the commission to give it time to find the files on that transaction.
The case was subsequently adjourned to April 10, 2014.
When the second case was called, the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning handed over copies of the settlement agreement between the Government of Ghana and Telecom Malaysia to the commission.
The counsel for the Ministry of Finance, Ms Sarah Fafa Kpodo, told the commission that the settlement agreement was endorsed but not signed. She also presented correspondence relating to the transaction to the commission.