Justice Atuguba should apologise to Kuranchie, others for jailing them for their comments – Kwaku Azar

A US-based Ghanaian lawyer and scholar, Prof Stephen Kwaku Asare, has praised Justice William Atuguba, a former justice of the Supreme Court of Ghana, for his criticism of the court over its ruling that led to the ousting of the Member of Parliament for Assin Central, James Gyakye Quayson.

In a post shared on Facebook on Thursday, October 26, 2023, Prof Kwaku Asare, a.k.a Kwaku Azar, indicated that even though he is happy with Justice Atuguba’s criticism of the Supreme Court, the former judge must also apologise for some of his judgements when he was in the court.

He said that Justice Atuguba should apologise to persons he jailed for comments they made during the 2012 election petition.

“It’s Atuguba’s right to characterize the Quayson decision as scandalous. He should apologize to Kuranchie et al. for jailing them for their comments.

In response to a comment on his post, Kwaku Azar explained that the retired judge wrongly cited people for contempt during the election petition.

“I have no problem with his comment. I have described the SC’s involvement as uncalled for and the worst in the country’s history.

“My comment is related to the Justice sentencing people for contempt. For instance, Sammy Awuku was sentenced because he described the panel as ‘selective and hypocritical’, for citing only one out of several newspaper reports of the Court’s proceedings. I am saying his threshold for citing people for contempt seems at odd with his description of the Court’s judgment as scandalous,” he wrote.

About Kuranchie and Awuku's contempt:

The Supreme Court sentenced Editor-in-Chief of the Daily Searchlight Newspaper, Ken Kuranchie to 10 days in prison for contemptuous comments he made in the paper’s front page in relation to the 2012 election petition.

The publication sought to question the court’s invitation of the then main opposition New Patriotic Party’s Deputy Communication Director Sammy Awuku who was reprimanded by the Bench for describing the court as “hypocritical and selective”.

What Justice Atuguba said about the judgment of the Supreme Court on Quayson’s case:

Speaking at a public lecture on ‘Protecting Our Democracy: The Role of the Judiciary’, on Tuesday, Justice Atuguba described the ruling of the court on the trial of Assin North legislator James Gyakye Quayson as scandalous.

He explained that the court should not have heard the case in the first place because it was adjudicated by the High Court, and the decision to do so goes against the basic principle of law.

He added that the Supreme Court should have executed the High Court’s decision and not started a fresh trial.

“The decision in the Gyakye Quayson case was scandalous. The Supreme Court re-adjudicated the matter already decided by the High Court,” he said.

Justice Atuguba said that the Supreme Court erred with its decision to declare Quayson's election victory null and void when the MP had clearly renounced his Canadian citizenship in November 2020 and the election was in December 2020.

He indicated that it does not make sense for the court to say Quayson owed allegiance to Canada when it had also cited his renunciation certificate issued in 2019.

BAI/SEA

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