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The Supreme Court has issued a summons to a University of Ghana lecturer Dr Michael Kpessa-Whyte over comments deemed to have scandalised the country’s apex court.
The NDC stalwart is to make a case to why he should not be held in contempt for allegedly denigrating the nation’s highest judicial body and describing it as “a stupid court.”
Dr Kpessa-Whyte in a recent post on Twitter claimed the Supreme Court is being turned into a “Stupid Court.”
In his tweet, the university lecturer also lamented generally the state of Ghana’s current judiciary and accused it of partisanship and lack of common sense.
His tweets were published barely 24 hours after Ghana’s Supreme Court ordered Parliament to expunge the name of an NDC MP, James Gyakye Quayson from its records citing procedural breaches during his nomination and election in 2020.
In a sharp U-turn however, the academic cum politician posted two tweets pointing out that people had been reaching out to him over the content of his tweet apparently linking it to the Ghanaian judiciary.
He clarified that his tweets were not in reference to Ghana’s judiciary.
“Thanks to all who have asked questions about my May 19th, 2023 tweet. For the avoidance of doubt, I follow judicial decisions in many countries and so the said tweet cannot be pinned to Ghana. It has more to do with developments elsewhere including the US.
“We live in a global village”, he wrote.
Dr Kpessa-Whyte has since apologized.
Read full details of the apology:
APOLOGY AND RETRACTION
I sent out a tweet on May 19, 2023, at 9:59 am, that shared my reflections on insights from a book by David A. Kaplan (2018) The Most Dangerous Branch: Inside the Supreme Court’s Assault on the Constitution, and recent attempts by some Democrats in the US to increase the number of Justices at the Apex Court from nine to thirteen.
I have observed that Ghanaweb and other media publications sought to associate my tweet with the decision of the Supreme Court 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 Supreme Court’s decision as at 9: 59am when I did the tweet.
The said tweet has resulted in the invocation of the powers of the Apex Court in our country for me to appear and show cause, because the tweet has scandalized the Apex Court of our land and has brought the dignity of the court into disrepute.
Sincerely, the tweet was not done with the intent to scandalize 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.
Please permit me to state unequivocally that I have no reason to slander our Supreme Court, and I hereby sincerely apologize 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.
Thank you.
SOURCE: DAILY MAIL GH
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