The Supreme Court of Ghana has convicted a member of the opposition NDC and a lecturer at the University of Ghana, Professor Michael Kpessa Whyte for contempt of the apex court.
The five-member panel chaired by Her Ladyship Mariama Owusu convicted Prof. Kpessa Whyte on his own plea of guilt to that charge brought against him.
The lecturer was summoned before the court following a series of tweets he made that related to the ruling of the Supreme Court on the case of Mr. Gyakye Quayson, the former Member of Parliament for Assin North Constituency in the Central Region.
The court directed parliament to expunge the name of the embattled MP, James Gyakye Quayson from the records as legislator on the basis that he was wrongfully elected since he had not renounced his Canadian citizenship at the time of the elections.
Reacting to the ruling of the Supreme Court, Prof. Kpessa Whyte took to his Twitter page to write, “the highest Court of the Land has been turned into ‘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… Time will tell,” the series of tweets of the lecturer noted.
He was subsequently hauled to the apex court to answer why he should not be convicted of contempt of the Supreme Court.
Appearing before the court today, May 30, 2023, Prof Whyte pleaded “not guilty with an explanation initially causing the Presiding Judge, Justice Mariama Owusu to ask him to state his plea clearly.
Following his plea, his legal team led by Dr. Justice Srem Sai pleaded with the court for mercy on the grounds that the contemnor after the summons of the court has retracted and apologized to the court.
“We pray for the mitigation of sentence. My lord, immediately the matter was brought to his attention, he did issue a clear, unreserved apology which we have accordingly brought to the court’s registry, addressed to the acting Chief Justice. He has taken steps to have the apology published on the front page of the Ghanaian Times, an apology to the court. It is our humble prayer, in all humility, we plead for mercy. We are also undertaking that such a sad and regrettable occurrence will not ever again. We commit to defending the integrity of this honorable Court,” Lawyer Srem Sai pleaded.
