Shelve Anas' video - Sam Okudzeto insists

Source: citifmonline.com - A former President of the Ghana Bar Association (GBA), Sam Okudzeto, is insisting that any attempt by journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas to show the videotapes of the judges taking bribes will be unfair.

22 of those judges have been suspended by the Judicial Council as the Chief Justice Georgina Theodora Woode orders investigations into the matter.

Twelve other high court justices also await their fate after being queried.

In an interview with Citi News, the respected legal luminary pointed out that showing the video will amount to side-stepping the right processes.

“I maintain that until the complete enquiry, they should not show it because you're asking the public to be judges and that is incorrect. You need proof and in this case if proof is provided, the proper thing to do is to take action and the quicker the action is taken, the better it is so as to clear the public mind of the perception,” he stated.

While Sam Okudzeto believes that the video should not be aired until investigations into the matter are completed, the Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII) has counseled Anas not to succumb to pressure but go ahead and release the video.

“Anas did the investigations with a purpose, and he spent money doing it. He does not need to ask us whether he should release it or not. If it is not released, will he achieve the aims of the investigation? So Anas should be able to take a decision to release it. In any case, one of the tools of fighting corruption is naming and shaming so there should be nothing wrong with releasing it,” he suggested.

Mr. Azeem is convinced attempts by some influential persons in society to cover up their ills will not promote integrity.

Meanwhile, the Judicial Council has said it will not stand in the way of Anas if he wants to publicly show the video to expose the said judges.

Ghana ranked 61 out of 175 countries listed in corruption watchdog in Transparency International’s 2014 Corruption Perceptions Index report.