Private legal practitioner Martin Kpebu has commended the National Democratic Congress’s (NDC) statement on the Supreme Court’s decision to hear Nelson Dafeamekpor’s case before Richard Sky’s anti-LGBTQ+ suit filed on March 5, 2024.
The NDC said they were alarmed about the listing of the case filed by South Dayi MP, Rockson-Nelson Dafeamekpor, for a hearing, ahead of the case of Richard Dela Sky v. the Parliament of Ghana and the Attorney-General.
But the Attorney-General revealed that he applied for an “expedited hearing,” in which the Supreme Court scheduled the South Dayi MP’s case ahead of Richard Sky’s case.
“This is after the fact, NDC had already issued their statement at the time the Minister Godfred Dame made the disclosure, so you see that NDC had a certain state of facts…what we saw was that Honourable Dafeamekpor’s case had been listed for hearing today [Wednesday, March 27] and so NDC is surprised that that case is being heard out of 10 ahead of the Richard Sky anti-LGBTQ matter which was two weeks ahead of the NDC case,” lawyer Martin Kpebu told Alfred Ocansey on Ghana Tonight yesterday, March 27.
Lawyer Kpebu was of the view that the statement by the opposition party should not be neglected just because it is coming from the NDC. He noted that it’s rather a “good riddance” for the country’s democracy.
“We don’t need to erode the force of the complaints NDC is making, in a democracy, that shouldn’t be our objective even if we disagree with NDC,” said lawyer Kpebu, adding, “In actual fact, when it comes to freedom of speech, it actually exists to protect the most violent and the most divergent opinions.”
“So in that context, I don’t have a problem with the NDC’s complaint; it is very good,” he stated.
He further indicated that the issue of one case being heard over another has been around over the period, so it is good for the judicial process.
More from the Supreme Court:
- Supreme Court dismisses Dafeamekpor suit: Effects of judiciary decision on Parliament
- It’s unethical to ambush lawyer for the other party – Ayine tells Dame on expeditious hearing
- The registry of the Supreme Court has the prerogative to fix dates for hearings; flak against CJ baseless – Dame
He noted that the Supreme Court, upon hindsight from former Auditor-General Daniel Domolevo’s case, may have decided to resolve the issue of delaying cases before it.
“The next reason I think this statement by the NDC is good riddance is that you remember I conducted the CDD v. Attorney-General; that is the Domelevo case. In that case, the Supreme Court stated, their lordships made a request to the rules of court committee to fashion out new rules to take care of some of these concerns of delay, one case being heard of the other and the rest,” he stated, emphasising that “it didn’t start with this Dafeamekpor’s case ahead of Richard Sky; it has always been around.”
“You remember in Domelevo’s case, you see how people were very angry and they criticised the Supreme Court for why they had waited and dealt with this matter after two years. And out of the critique, I’m sure with hindsight, the Supreme Court itself saw that, yes, it could have done better.”
Lawyer Kpebu, however, underscored that not all blame lies at the doorstep of the court, indicating that lawyers also make mistakes.