The Majority Chief Whip, Rockson-Nelson Dafeamekpor, says the dispute between some lawyers and the Chief Justice over hearings during the legal vacation could have been resolved through negotiation rather than formal petitions.

Speaking on JoyNews’ Newsfile on Saturday, August 15, the South Dayi MP said it was common for cases to spill into the legal vacation and for lawyers to negotiate with judges on how proceedings should continue.

“Sometimes your matter can travel into the vacation. It happens,” he said.

“So, as a lawyer, what you do is that you negotiate with the judge.”

He explained that a lawyer who had concerns about conducting a full hearing during the vacation could approach the judge and propose that a limited number of hearings be held before the matter is adjourned until October, when the new legal year resumes.

“‘My Lord, you know this matter; we have spent some time during term time. And so, I think that in the vacation, even though we are supposed to continue, can we agree and do maybe two or three hearings and then we adjourn it to October?’ This is how you negotiate,” he said.

Dafeamekpor said he believed such an approach could have been adopted in the cases currently at the centre of the dispute.

“I suspect strongly that if Atta Akyea had appeared and said, ‘My Lord, with all due respect, you know the vacations, we take it easy. So, let’s negotiate and do a couple of hearings. And then from September, we move it to October,’ I don’t think my Lord would have disagreed,” he said.

According to him, lawyers could also benefit from having cases heard during the vacation because faster hearings could shorten the amount of time a client remained involved in litigation.

“If I were a lawyer in any of the cases, even the vacation would have been a favourable time for me to expeditiously deal with the trial because I’m interested in getting my client off. And so the expeditious hearing shortens the time that I will spend on the matter.”

This follows complaints from three law firms regarding notices directing their lawyers to appear before judges to continue hearing part-heard criminal cases during the current legal vacation.

The Ghana Bar Association (GBA) appealed to Chief Justice Paul Baffoe-Bonnie to ensure that judges uphold the established rules and traditions governing Ghana’s legal vacation, particularly in cases where lawyers have indicated that they are unavailable to appear in court.

But the Chief Justice Paul Baffoe-Bonnie rejected the position that lawyers can decline to proceed with cases simply because they have been scheduled during the legal vacation.