Ernest Kumi
The Member of Parliament (MP) for Akwatia, Ernest Kumi, has filed an application at the Supreme Court (SC) seeking to quash the decision of the Koforidua High Court which convicted him for contempt of court and issued a warrant for his arrest.
The MP is also seeking the court to prohibit the trial judge from going ahead to sentence him pending the hearing and determination of the case before the apex court.
The application, filed on February 24, 2025, argues that the trial judge, Justice Senyo Amedahe committed a jurisdictional error of law when he assumed jurisdiction in a Parliamentary Election Petition at Akwatia Constituency at the time when the Electoral Commission (EC) had not published the Gazette Notification of the results to which the election relates.
It also argues that the High Court judge breached the rules of natural justice when he proceeded to hear and determine the contempt application despite the pendency of the MP’s motion to set aside the said contempt application for want of jurisdiction.
The application further argues that the trial judge was biased and highly prejudiced against the MP when he, among others, refused to grant his lawyer, Gary Nimako Marfo audience on the basis that counsel had not filed “appearance” in the contempt application.
Contempt
The Koforidua High Court presided over by Justice Senyo Amedahe, on February 19, 2025, convicted the Akwatia MP after finding him guilty of contempt of court.
This was after the MP, who according to court documents, defied the interim injunction placed on him by the court, by presenting himself to be sworn in as a member of the 9th Parliament on January 7, 2025.
The court had temporarily barred Mr. Kumi from presenting himself to be sworn following a legal challenge against his election.
Justice Senyo Amedahe, the presiding judge, after convicting the MP in absentia, also issued a warrant for his arrest for failing to appear before the court for sentencing.
In spite of attempts by the Minority Caucus in Parliament to justify the absence of their colleague in court, the presiding judge was of the view that Mr. Kumi willfully disregarded the court’s authority.
Certiorari
The MP, through his lawyers, has filed an application at the apex court seeking to quash that decision and also prohibit Justice Amedahe from going ahead to sentence him.
He is seeking a declaration that the election petition filed by the National Democratic Congress’ (NDC) parliamentary candidate, Henry Boakye-Yiadom on December 31, 2024, in the absence of the Gazette Notification of the Parliamentary Election Results to which the election relates, is incompetent as same did not properly invoke the jurisdiction of the High Court, and that any order founded on same is void and of no effect.
He also wants a declaration that the contempt proceedings and the ruling dated February 19, 2025, founded on the premature election petition filed on December 31, 2024, is void and of no effect.
Again, Mr. Kumi wants the Supreme Court to issue an “order quashing the Ruling delivered on the Contempt Application and the Execution of the Bench Warrant issued by the Court dated 19th February, 2025 by His Lordship Justice Emmanuel Senyo Amadahe.”
He also wants “an Order of Prohibition against His Lordship Justice Emmanuel Senyo Amedahe from proceeding to sentence the Applicant, Hon. Ernest Yaw Kumi pending the hearing and determination of the instant suit.”
BY Gibril Abdul Razak