Atuguba warns over Supreme Court ruling: Tread carefully because of law of contempt

A Retired Justice of the Supreme Court, William Atuguba has reminded Ghanaians of the law of contempt hence should be careful when commenting on court cases.

Mr. Atuguba notes that the courts have been liberal about the law of contempt but that notwithstanding, persons ought to be measured in their commentaries on court cases.

Speaking on Joy News on the Supreme Court ruling regarding the vacant seat on Tuesday, November 12, he said “I cannot dilate too much on it because the reasons are yet to come. In court matters you have to tread very cautiously because of the law of contempt. I think so far the courts, after some time, have been more liberal about the issue of contempt which is better except in situations where people go overboard.”

The apex court has by a 5-2 Majority decision upheld the suit filed by Alexander Afenyo-Markin on the controversial declaration of four vacant seats by Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin on Tuesday, November 12.

The court said the full reasons will be made available tomorrow Wednesday, November 13.

Attorney-General Godfred Dame told journalists after the court ruling that he expects the Speaker to comply with the court decision.

“It is an emphatic determination of the matter by the court and I expect the speaker to comply. He is law-abiding, I have known him for a very long time, so I expect him to comply with the court decision. It was necessary that the sc came to this decision,” he said.

The case filed by Alexander Afenyo-Markin, leader of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) parliamentary caucus challenges Speaker Bagbin’s declaration of these seats as vacant.

The core focus of the dispute was Bagbin’s interpretation of the article of the constitution regarding the declaration of vacant seats in Parliament and what the standing orders of the House said when an MP declares his or her seat vacant.

On October 17, 2024, arguing that the MPs in question had violated constitutional requirements, Bagbin declared their seats vacant. However, Afenyo-Markin filed an ex parte motion at the Supreme Court to revoke Bagbin’s declaration.

It would be recalled that following an ex parte motion filed by Alexander Afenyo-Markin over the declaration of vacant seats by Bagbin, the apex court ordered for a stay of execution of the declaration.

In response, Bagbin filed an application at the apex court through his lawyer, Thaddeus Sory. The Speaker contends that the Supreme Court misapplied the law by putting on hold the execution of his ruling because it was a non-judicial decision.

The Speaker in his reliefs prayed the court to strike out its stay of execution of his ruling on the declaration of the four seats vacant, among others.

On Wednesday, October 30, the apex court directed the Speaker to file processes by November 11. The Supreme Court on that same day dismissed the application by the Speaker to set aside its earlier ruling that stayed the execution of the Speaker’s declaration of four seats vacant.  Source: 3news.com