A five-member panel of the Supreme Court has cautioned and discharged Dr Michael Kpessa-Whyte of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) after convicting him on his own plea.
The apex court convicted Kpessa-Whyte after he pleaded guilty to three contempt of court charges preferred against him by the Supreme Court.
The panel is chaired by Justice Mariama Owusu. It comprises Justices Lovelace Johnson, Henrietta Mensa-Bonsu, Samuel Asiedu, and George Kingsley Koomson.
The charges, as read in court by the clerk, are scandalising the Supreme Court, ridiculing the Supreme Court, and prejudicing the highest court of the land.
Dr Justice Srem Sai, lawyer for Kpessa-Whyte, in mitigating on behalf of his client before sentencing, asked the Supreme Court to temper justice with mercy, promising that his client will never in his lifetime, commit such a blunder again.
Additionally, Dr Sren Sai noted that his client will commit himself to defending the integrity of the Supreme Court, the Justices of the Supreme Court, and that of the entire Judiciary.
The ruling
The panel took a 20-minute break to prepare their ruling. When the panel reconstituted, lawyer Yaw Oppong, the current director of the Ghana School of Law, entered a mitigation plea on behalf of Kpessa-Whyte before the court read its ruling.
The court, in its ruling read by Justice Mariama Owusu, indicated that the panel has taken note of the apology of the contemnor and the mitigation plea of his lawyers and the director of the Ghana School of Law, Yaw Oppong.
To that end, the court is inclined to caution and discharge the contemnor. Members of the panel, however, took turns to share their thoughts with Kpessa-Whyte, charging him never to denigrate the highest court of the land again.
Background
Kpessa-Whyte, after his tweets that resulted in the invitation of the Supreme Court, issued a statement begging the Court to forgive him for portraying the apex court as “stupid”.
“Sincerely, the tweet was not done with the intent to scandalise or denigrate a revered institution such as the Supreme Court of Ghana for which I have a tremendous amount of respect and admiration
“These are consequences I never intended, although I do accept responsibility that, I could have exercised better judgment in my choice of words,” the failed parliamentary candidate aspirant of the NDC said in his statement issued on Thursday (25 May).
“Please permit me to state unequivocally that I have no reason to slander our Supreme Court, and I hereby sincerely apologise unreservedly for any pain and discomfort my tweets may have caused the Chief Justice, the Supreme Court and the entire judiciary.
“I hereby retract the tweet in question; accordingly, the tweet has been deleted completely, and I pray for forgiveness,” Dr Kpessa-Whyte’s statement further read.
Reporting by Wilberforce Asare in Accra
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