Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie aka Sir John
Justice William Atuguba, President of the panel of judges hearing the election petition has hinted the court will be considering the utterance of NPP General Secretary, ?Sir John? and others for contempt.
He dropped this hint Monday morning during an unusual but ominous opening statement on Day 40 of the Election Petition hearing.
Justice Atuguba made reference to a front-page publication by the Enquirer newspaper in which Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie also known as ?Sir John? is reported to have made contemptuous statements in respect of the justices.
He also referred to another comment made by an unnamed political commentator who is alleged to have said that, ?we shall cut the heads of NDC supporters if Supreme Court declares [president] Mahama winner?.
The judge condemned these statements. ?There is nothing to be gained by championing extremist liberty,? he noted.
Justice Atuguba is disturbed that last week?s sentencing of two persons in prison had not done much to discourage people from making contemptuous statements. ?More terrible things are coming?, he lamented.
Dragging people to court and punishing them is ?not a pleasant thing,? he said but added that there was ?a duty? on the justices to enforce the laws and deal with reckless comments scandalising the courts.
The presiding judge said the Court had requested the tape and promised the court will deal with the matter after listening to the comments attributed to the two.
The court has so far handed down three rulings for contempt. It banned Sammy Awuku of the opposition NPP, imprisoned Ken Kuranchie of the Daily Searchlight newspaper for 10 days and Stephen Atubiga of the ruling NDC for three days.
In this latest hint, it appears the list is set to grow.
Source-myjoyonline
