Kevin Taylor
An Accra High Court presided over by Justice Eric Kyei Baffour has issued a bench warrant for the arrest of a social media commentator, Kelvin Ebo Taylor, who is believed to be domiciled in the United States.
The warrant comes at the back of certain derogatory statements allegedly made by Taylor on social media which, according to the court, has put the justice system and the person of the judge in disrepute.
In a recent post, the social media commentator on his Facebook page titled “With All Due Respect” did run a commentary with the headline “The Men in Red, Tainted Judiciary” where he used the opportunity to make unsubstantiated allegations against Justice Kyei Baffour.
He made a wild claim that Justice Kyei Baffour who was among a number of High Court judges recently promoted to the Court of Appeal was being used as a conduit by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government to prosecute some former NDC government officials.
Kelvin Tylor also touched on one of the criminal cases before Justice Kyei Baffour’s court where the former Board Chairman of the Nations Communications Authority (NCA), Eugene Baffoe-Bonnie, and four others are facing trial for allegedly causing financial loss to the state over the purchase of Pegasus cybersecurity equipment.
The social media commentator alleged that the judge was deliberately twisting the law as far as proceedings in that case was concerned to favour the ruling NPP administration.
“Justice Eric Kyei Baffour was hurriedly promoted from a High Court judge to a Court of Appeal judge. I can say on authority that Justice Kyei Baffour is operating on the orders of President Akufo-Addo and the National Security Minister, Kan Dapaah. This is why the case of the former NCA board members was jumped straight to the Commercial Court to Kyei Baffour so that he would execute government agenda, this is basic. With all due respect, my fellow Ghanaians, Justice Kyei Baffour is seriously doing the bidding of the President and more importantly the bidding of the National Security Minister, Kan Dapaah,” Kelvin Taylor claimed.
The commentator, without any proof, claimed that Justice Kyei Baffour had become too powerful and too rich within a short time that he has put up a mansion in Accra that has become the talk of town in the country.
He, therefore, called on the new Chief Justice, Justice Kwasi Anin-Yeboah, to investigate Justice Kyei Baffour else he would release audio tapes in his custody bordering on meetings the Court of Appeal judge has had with high-ranking officials of the Akufo-Addo administration.
Bench Warrant
Justice Kyei Baffour in issuing the bench warrant which was directed at the Inspector General of Police, the Ghana Police, the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI), National Security said the video contains ‘scandalous and prima facie speech’ which is “scandalous to justice, the judge in the matter for which no civilized jurisdiction ought to allow the intent of this person if he indeed made such a video.”
“The video sought to provoke, incite and poison the mind of the public against the court in respect of the proceedings,” he added.
The warrant read that Kelvin Ebo Taylor should be “produced before the court to answer as to why he should not be committed to prison.”
The judge added that the warrant remains in force “until he is arrested or no longer exists on the surface of the earth.”
BY Gibril Abdu Razak