Ernest Yaw Kumi
The Supreme Court has set April 30, 2025, to deliver two rulings concerning applications filed by embattled Member of Parliament (MP) for Akwatia, Ernest Yaw Kumi, challenging the decision of a High Court in Koforidua which convicted him for contempt of court after he flouted an earlier injunction issued by the court.
The apex court will determine among other things, allegations by the MP that the trial court breached the rule of natural justice by not hearing multiple interlocutory applications filed by his lawyers prior to the court finding him guilty of contempt.
The Supreme Court will also determine whether the High Court had jurisdiction to entertain the election petition filed the National Democratic Congress’ (NDC) Henry Boakye Yiadom, which resulted in the court’s injunction and subsequent committal for contempt of court.
Another area that the court will be looking at is the exact date on which the result of Akwatia Constituency was gazetted, as both sides have presented two different documents with different dates purporting to be the gazette notification.
The court is also unclear as to why the High Court will order that the name of the MP should not be gazetted if the court was indeed in the know that the Akwatia parliamentary result had been gazetted before he proceeded to issue the injunction.
While his lawyers maintain that the High Court judge was biased towards him, counsel for Mr. Yiadom disputes this claim, indicating that the MP was afforded ample opportunities to defend himself but failed to do so, and is now turning round to blame the court for breaching his right.
The rulings will essentially determine whether the MP was indeed in contempt of court and ought to present himself to the court for sentencing.
Arguments
Mr. Kumi is before the Supreme Court seeking to set aside the High Court’s injunction against him as well as his conviction for contempt of court, as a result of him presenting himself to be sworn in as the MP for the area against the court’s order.
His lawyer, Gary Nimako Marfo, in his argument before the Supreme Court yesterday, argued that the High Court judge committed an error of law when he proceeded to injunct the MP-elect in the absence of a gazette notification.
He argued that the judge was wrong in allowing counsel for Mr. Yiadom to read a news article on his phone which said the results of 274 constituencies, including Akwatia had been gazetted by the Electoral Commission.
He said that the High Court is a court of records, hence in the absence of the gazette notification, the lawyer’s reliance on the news story was not made under oath so the court could not have relied on it to make a determination against his client.
But Bernard Bediako Baidoo, counsel for Mr. Yiadom, disagreed with that position and argued that there is no rule which states that a hard copy of the gazette notification must be presented to the court before it can deal with the case.
The MP’s lawyer also argues that the High Court ignored all the certiorari applications filed before the Supreme Court as well as applications before the trial court to stay proceedings, as well as halt its ruling on the contempt of court, and went ahead to convict his client.
Mr. Baidoo disagreed with this point too and argued that the mere filing of those applications did not operate as an automatic stay of proceedings, hence the judge was right to have proceeded.
Again, Mr. Nimako Marfo told the court that the High Court judge should have ceased the hearing of the substantive matter and deal with the application challenging its jurisdiction before proceeding.
This was opposed by counsel for Mr. Yiadom, who told the apex court that the High Court had actually determined the issue of jurisdiction before proceeding to hear the contempt application.
Justin Amenuvor, counsel for the Electoral Commission, which is an interested party to the application, told the court that the High Court is a court of records and the affidavit in support of the application states that at the time the court made its decision, there was no record before it as to the gazette notification, and that has not been contested by Mr. Yiadom.
The five-member panel made up of Justices Gabriel Pwamang (President), Henrietta Mensa-Bonsu, Ernest Gaewu, Henry Anthony Kwofie and Richard Adjei-Frimpong adjourned the two applications to April 30 for ruling.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak