Prof Kpessa Whyte to appear before the Supreme Court for contempt

Accra, May 27, GNA – Professor Michael Kpessa Whyte, a Political Scientist, University of Ghana, will on May 30, 2023, appear before the Supreme Court to state why he should not be cited for contempt of Court for allegedly scandalising the Apex Court. The Apex Court cited the Member of the National Democratic Congress for contempt for bringing into ridicule the dignity, respect, and stature of the Supreme Court and Inciting prejudice against the Court. This borders on a series of tweets by Prof Whyte on May 19, 2023. Prof. Whyte’s comments were made at a time of heated public discussion regarding the Supreme Court’s order to Parliament to expunge the name of James Gyakye Quayson from its records, after it found that he had not renounced his Canadian Citizenship at the time he filed his nomination forms to contest the Assin North polls in 2020. Even before he appeared before the Court, the Professor had already issued a statement apologising to the Court, explaining that his tweet was not in any way related to the Assin North judgment. The summons issued allege that he posted the following; ‘The highest Court of the Land has been turned into a ‘Stupid Court’.’ ‘They have succeeded in turning a Supreme Court into a Stupid Court. Common sense is now a scarce commodity. ‘ Prof. Whyte tweeted. He said, ‘I have observed that Ghanaweb and other media publications sought to associate my tweet with the decision of the Supreme Court in the Assin North matter as stated on the face of the Summons to show cause, but honestly, at the time of my tweet, I had no knowledge of the Supreme Court’s decision as at 9: 59am when I did the tweet.’ He said ‘the said tweet had resulted in the invocation of the powers of the Apex Court in our country for me to appear and show cause because the tweet has scandalized the Apex Court of our land and has brought the dignity of the court into disrepute.’ He said sincerely, the tweet was not done with the intent to scandalise or denigrate a revered institution such as the Supreme Court of Ghana for which he had a tremendous amount of respect and admiration. ‘These are consequences I never intended, although I do accept responsibility that, I could have exercised better judgment in my choice of words,’ he added. He said ‘please permit me to state unequivocally that I have no reason to slander our Supreme Court, and I hereby sincerely apologize unreservedly for any pain and discomfort my tweets may have caused the Chief Justice, the Supreme Court, and the entire judiciary. I hereby retract the tweet in question; accordingly, the tweet has been deleted completely and I pray for forgiveness.’

Source: Ghana News Agency