Supreme Court cautions, discharges Kpessa-Whyte over contempt
An associate Professor of the University of Ghana and leading member of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Prof. Michael Kpessa-Whyte, has benefitted from the mercy seat of the Supreme Court after he was cautioned and discharged for contempt.
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A five–member panel of the highest court of the land, after discharging Prof. Kpessa-Whyte, said the comments were not deserving of a professor and ,therefore, advised him to live an exemplary life as many people looked up to him.
“Sometimes, we do not appreciate how important we are.
You are an opinion leader and you are now an associate professor, many people look up to you, do not lead them into temptation,” a member of the panel, Justice Prof. Joy Henrietta Mensa-Bonsu advised the contemnor.
Guilty
Prof. Kpessa –Whyte, who described the apex court as “stupid court” in a tweet on microblogging site, Twitter, yesterday pleaded guilty to scandalising the Supreme Court, bringing into ridicule the dignity, respect and stature of the court and inciting prejudice against the court.
He initially pleaded not guilty, which he changed to guilty with explanation and finally guilty.
He was convicted on his own plea but the court decided not to punish him following his apology and retraction of the said contemptuous comments.
The court further had mercy on the convict after a spirited mitigation by his lawyer, Dr Justice Srem Sai and the Director of the Ghana School of Law, Barima Oppong Kodie aka Yaw Oppong, who was in the courtroom and decided to plead on behalf of the contemnor .
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Mitigation
In his submission for mitigation, Dr Sai pleaded with the court to have mercy on his client, submitting that Prof. Kpessa-Whyte had purged himself by issuing an apology and also pulling down the said tweet, replacing it with the apology.
‘It is our humble prayer and in all humility in sackcloth, we plead for mercy and clemency from your Lordships seat of justice.
We undertake that such a sad and regrettable occurrence will not ever happen again,” he said.
Counsel said his client would now devote himself to defending the integrity of the apex court and the entire Judiciary.
For his part, Barima Oppong Kodie pleaded with the court to temper justice with mercy and be lenient with the contemnor.
Judgment
Delivering the judgment that culminated in the caution of Prof. Kpessa-Whyte, the court was of the considered view that the Supreme Court and the entire Judiciary were not above criticism, but it was important that such criticisms did not jeopardise the administration of justice.
Making reference to the three high court judges who were gruesomely murdered in 1982, Justice Mariama Owusu, who read the judgment, said judges must be criticised fairly but not in a manner that could make them object of hatred or denigrate the courts.
The panel was presided over by Justice Owusu, with Justices, Avril Lovelace -Johnson, Mensa-Bonsu, Samuel Kwame Adibu Asiedu and George Kingsley Koomson, as members
Writer’s email: emma.hawkson@graphic.com.gh