<<Print>>

The Founder and leader of the United Renaissance Party (URP), Kofi Wayo has called on Ghanaian Journalists to learn from the experience of Ken Kuranchie, the Editor of the Daily Searchlight newspaper who has been incarcerated for publishing contemptuous comments on the ongoing election petition trial in the Supreme Court. Charles Kofi Wayo explained that Ghanaians do not really understand democracy to be a process but only as limitless freedom of speech. He was also of the view that the Editors� Forum, which has pleaded with the Chief Justice to reduce the 10-day jail term handed the Daily Searchlight Editor, must be proactive by educating its members on objective reportage regardless of their political inclination. ��You can be NPP, you can be NDC that is okay, but you have to be objective. So the Editor�s Forum, just like any Ghanaian Institution, they have to be proactive instead of reactive�. According to Mr. Wayo who doubles as a member of the Board of Directors of the Energy Commission, the sentencing of Ken Kuranchie is unfortunate but we need to understand the enormous powers bestowed into the Judiciary. ��Standing before a Judge is like facing God,� he asserted on Adom FM. On his word, there is no excuse what so ever for disparaging a judge. �Never! Never! Never! because the judge has awesome powers�you cannot untangle it. We the people gave them the power to take care of our affairs on the planet until we die and go meet the real God. So in a way, we have to obey a judge, just like we obey the Bible�. These comments come on the back of a petition to the Chief Justice, by the Editors Forum of Ghana for the reduction of the jail sentence slapped on Ken Kuranchie, for publishing presumptuous comments in the Editorial column of the Daily Searchlight newspaper.