Ernest Yaw Kumi
The Member of Parliament (MP) for Akwatia, Ernest Yaw Kumi, has been given a temporal relief as the Supreme Court (SC) yesterday restrained a High Court in Koforidua from going ahead to sentence him for contempt of court.
The MP, who is staring a possible jail time in the face, is before the apex court challenging the decision of the High Court which convicted him and also issued a warrant for his arrest, for failing to show up in court.
The restraining order remains in place until the final determination of an application seeking to set aside the decision of the High Court which convicted the MP for flouting an interim injunction against him presenting himself to be sworn in as MP-elect for Akwatia.
The Supreme Court, in a majority 4:1 decision, with Justice Gabriel Pwamang dissenting, granted an oral application for interim injunction by Gary Nimako Marfo, counsel for the MP pending the determination of the application for certiorari.
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.
Undecided Supreme Court
Earlier, the court was undecided whether it should even consider the applications filed by the MP, stating that he ought to purge himself of the contempt of court before he could be given audience by the court.
Justice Pwamang, president of the five-member panel, had indicated that “We are doubting our right to give you a hearing,” when lawyer for the MP sought to move a different application seeking to set aside the injunction against the MP.
He also stated that “this is a superior court. By our law, until you purge yourself of contempt of court, you do not have an audience before us. It is not the case that you have a contempt against you and then you come to be heard by another court without purging yourself of contempt,” he added.
Other members of the panel, Justice Henrietta Mensa-Bonsu, Ernest Gaewu, Henry Anthony Kwofie, and Richard Adjei-Frimpong appeared to have a different opinion on the matter, leading the judges to retire to chambers to deliberate on the matter.
Before that, Gary Nimako Marfo had contended that the order for contempt has not been served on the MP, and that there was no evidence before the court that the MP had been convicted, hence nothing stopped the Supreme Court from going ahead to hear the application.
He added that despite the pendency of the motion before the apex court, the High Court disregarded the Supreme Court and went ahead to deal with the contempt application.
When the judges returned from their deliberation, they gave lawyers in the matter seven days to file submissions on whether the MP should be given a hearing by the apex court while the contempt hangs around his neck.