Contempt of court: Kpessa Whyte cautioned and discharged by Supreme Court
When he appeared in court, the contemnor, an Associate Professor at the University of Ghana, initially pleaded not guilty to the charge of contempt.
A five-member Supreme Court panel has cautioned and discharged Prof Micheal Kpessah Whyte for scandalising the court.
When he appeared in court on Tuesday, the contemnor, an Associate Professor at the University of Ghana, initially pleaded not guilty to the charge of contempt.
Later, he pleaded guilty also. Then his lawyers made a prayer to the court for mercy after the court convicted him on his plea.
Additionally, lawyer Srem Sai promised the court that the contemnor has vowed to use his medium to propagate the good works of the courts and the Judiciary in general and thus asked for mercy.
At this point, the court rose for about 20 to 30 minutes to consider and give its judgment.
When their Lordships returned, the Director for Legal Education, Barima Oppong Kodie, who was not a lawyer in the suit, rose just at the point of the judgment delivery.
He added his voice to the plea for mercy made by lawyers for the contemnor noting that he will also ensure that he propagate the good works of the court.
Then the judgment moment came. The court considered a host of authorities on the crime of contempt and indicated its necessity.
After that, the court noted that irrespective of the strict legal basis for the tool, it has considered the various pleas from counsel and Barima Oppong Kodie and thus held that the contemnor is hereby “cautioned and discharged.”
Members of the panel were Owusu (JSC), Lovelace Johnson (JSC), Mensa-Bonsu(JSC), Adibu-Asiedu (JSC), and Gaewu(JSC).
Background
The issues stemmed from a recent tweet by Prof. Kpessa-Whyte where he criticised the Court, in the wake of its decision, ordering Parliament to expunge the name of James Gyakye Quayson from its records.
His tweets read as follows:
“The highest Court of the Land has been turned into a ‘Stupid Court’.
“They have succeeded in turning a Supreme Court into a Stupid Court. Common – sense is now a scarce commodity.”
“A major element in the death of democracies is partisanship in the delivery of justice. Our judges need lessons in political philosophy and ethics."
However ahead of today's hearing, the lecturer had apologised and explained in a statement that his tweet was not in any way related to the Assin-North judgment.
“I have observed that Ghanaweb and other media publications sought to associate my tweet with the decision of the SC in the Assin North matter as stated on the face of the summons to show cause, but honestly at the time of my tweet, I had no knowledge of the SC’s decision as at 9: 59a.m. when I did the tweet.
“I hereby retract the tweet in question; accordingly, the tweet has been deleted completely and pray for forgiveness."
