Ernest Yaw Kumi
The Supreme Court has set aside the conviction of the Member of Parliament (MP) for Akwatia, Ernest Yaw Kumi by a Koforidua High Court for contempt of court, after he flouted an injunction issued by the court.
The apex court, in a 4:1 majority decision, with Justice Gabriel Pwamang dissenting, has also prohibited the trial judge, Justice Emmanuel Senyo Amedahe from sentencing the MP. Justices Henrietta Mensa-Bonsu, Ernest Gaewu, Henry Anthony Kwofie and Richard Adjei-Frimpong, formed the majority.
Again, the court has by same 4:1 majority prohibited Justice Amedahe from continuing to hear and determine the election petition filed by National Democratic Congress (NDC)’s parliamentary candidate for Akwatia, Henry Boakye Yiadom, which resulted in the court’s injunction and subsequent committal for contempt of court.
The MP was 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.
The trial court, after convicting him, issued a warrant for his arrest and was set to sentence him if he had been arrested.
His lawyer, Gary Nimako Marfo, 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 also argued that the trial court breached the rule of natural justice by not hearing an interlocutory application filed by his lawyers prior to the court finding him guilty of contempt.
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 petition.
The decision of the Supreme Court essentially means Mr. Kumi was not in contempt of court and, therefore, should not be sentenced for same.
However, the court in a unanimous decision dismissed a request by the MP that the petition filed by Henry Boakye Yiadom, challenging his election in the absence of the Gazette Notification of the Parliamentary Election is incompetent as same did not properly invoke the jurisdiction of the High Court.
By this decision, the parties will go back to the High Court in Koforidua to contest the election, but the matter would be determined by a different judge following the prohibition of Justice Amedahe by the Supreme Court.
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.
The Supreme Court, prior to its decision, had stayed the proceeding of the High Court and stayed the hands of the trial judge from sentencing the MP.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak