No One Is Above The Law

Ghana’s Supreme Court has emphasized that nobody residing in

the country is above the law and thus warned that it would deal with anyone who

seeks to undermine the authority, independent and integrity of the judiciary

especially with regards to the on-going election petition hearing before it.

“…The touchline we issued last Monday covers

everybody in this country; from the President down to anybody; everybody is

covered; everybody, I want to make that clear. That’s the coverage area of our

warning”,said Justice William

Atuguba, President of the nine-member panel of judges said during hearing of

the petition case yesterday.

His pronouncement was in reference to comment made by the Deputy

Communication Director of the NPP, Sammy Awuku, on Peace FM’s morning programme,

Kokrokoo, barely 24 hours after the

court issued a final warning to lawyers and the media in particular regarding

twists and spins put on the proceedings at the hearing.

Taking his turn on

the programme on Tuesday morning, Sammy Awuku described as “hypocritical and

selective”, the warning by

the Supreme Court to the media to stop misrepresenting to the public

proceedings at the election petition hearing. To buttress his point, he said

the court was bias in mentioning the Daily

Guide, a pro- NPP newspaper as a

culprit while failing to do so with the pro-NDC newspapers.

When Mr. Kwesi Pratt Jnr, a co-panelist on the

programme expressed reservations about Sammy Awuku’s comments and sought to

apologise on behalf of the programme, Sammy Awuku said the apology does not

cover what he had said.

Taking a very dim

view of the utterances of the NPP activist in view of the fact that it had

issued a final touchline warning the previous day to all persons to be

circumspect in their comments about proceedings in court, Justice William Atuguba,

immediately the court resumed sitting yesterday after taking a break on Monday

decided to tackle the issue of twists and spins put on proceedings at the court

for public consumption and the denigrating of the independence and integrity of

the court.

Firstly, he touched

on the Daily Guide’s front page

headline a day after the Supreme Court issued the final warning. ATUGUBA GOES WILD,

the headline of the

Tuesday, June, June 25, 2013 edition of the paper screamed, referring to the President

of the panel of judge’s final touchline warning as well as his dim view of the

publication concerning pink sheets in his custody published in the same newspaper

on Friday, June 21, 2013.

Justice Atuguba said

while newspapers have a right to publish stories that will sell, they ought to

use decent words. He wondered if the paper can stand a wild sentence from the

court.

Having dealt with the

issue of poor reportage in the Daily

Guide, he moved on to the comments made by Sammy Awuku on the Peace FM programme. He

asked if the

Deputy Director of Communication of the NPP was in court since he had been told

that he had been coming to the court to listen to proceedings into the election

case. It turned out, however, that Sammy Awuku was not in court. The judge then

issued the warning that no one was above the law and therefore the court will

deal with whoever tries to undermine its authority and integrity. He then said

the court will deal with Sammy Awuku later.

Back from recess,

Sammy Awuku, obviously upon advice, ‘produced’ himself in court to plead and

retract his offensive comments. When he was asked by Justice Atuguba why he had

come to court, the NPP activist said he had been told that his name had been

mentioned in court and having realized that his comments were offensive, had

come to retract and apologize accordingly.

Pleading for mercy, he

claimed that he made the offensive comments after being provoked by a

co-panelist representing the NDC on the programme. He apologized profusely and

pledged to use same forum and other fora to retract his comments and apologize.

Counsels from both

sides took turns to plead on behalf of Sammy Awuku for mercy. The first to do

so was Philip Addison, lead counsel for the petitioners who revealed that he,

together with his learned friends from the other side had met the judges in

their chamber during recess and pleaded with the court to forgive Sammy Awuku. Counsel

for the respondents, Tsatsu Tsikata, Tony Lithur and Quarshie Idun, all took turns

in open

court to again plead for mercy for the NPP activist.

Ordering Sammy Awuku

to keep standing, the judges then retired to their chamber to determine how to

deal with the NPP activist who cut a pathetic figure and looked subdued as he

waited for the judges to return.

On their return, the

voice of Justice Atuguba reverberated through the court room as he worked his

way towards the ruling of the court on the matter. The court room was dead

silent. One would be able to hear the sound of a pin if it drops. Sammy Awuku

stood lonely by the dock, looking like one about to be sentenced to death. The

smile on the faces of supporters of the NPP in the court had been replaced by

the expression of a survivor of a shipwreck. Justice Atuguba’s voice rose to a

crescendo. Then he pronounced the ruling of the court.

He said the court

took a very dim view of the attempt to tarnish its integrity. He expressed the

readiness

of the court, as a result, to assert the authority vested in it and deal with

anyone who attempts to do so. He said in light of the retraction of the offensive

comment and the apology thereof by Sammy Awuku, the court had decided not to invoke

its powers of contempt. It was

therefore discharging the NPP activist. However, it was barring him from

further attending the court’s proceedings on the matter. This he said was the

beginning of punitive measures against all others who have decided to disrespect

the authority of the judges.

NO

REMORSE?

Outside the court, many

who felt Sammy Awuku would have learn to be slow to speak were surprise when he

did not only speak to journalists but said he had accepted the decision of the

court but had his own reservations. On Agoo

FM later on, as if to justify his offensive comments, he said others have

said worse things about the Supreme Court yet have not been dragged there.

On citi

FM, he likened his situation to a footballer who had been red carded and therefore

has to watch the rest of the match from the stands. He said though he had been

barred from being in court to listen to proceedings, he will continue to follow

the case and make his contribution when necessary. At 6:00 pm, he made good his

pledge to the court to retract and apologise for his offensive comments.

Awuku’s Lie

Many who listened to

the Peace FM programme on Tuesday

morning when Sammy Awuku made the offensive comments know that he lied to the

Supreme Court when he said he was provoked to make the comments on the

programme.

The NDC activist on

that programme was Dela Edem. In his submission on the Supreme Court, Dela said

the NPP stalwart’s petition before the Supreme Court is bound to fail. He said

nothing to provoke Sammy Awuku to make him attack the integrity of the Supreme

Court.

The Managing Editor of

the Insight, Kwesi Pratt, taking his

turn on the topic said he had decided not to be making comments regarding the

case and therefore chose to deal with a different topic. However, his attempt

to apologize on behalf of the programme for the comments against the Supreme

Court was spurned by the NPP activist.

Sammy Awuku, described

as a fine gentleman during his school days has gained notoriety for making very

dangerous and insulting comments unbecoming of a young man who ventured into

national politics not very long ago.

In the run up to the

2012 elections, addressing NPP youths in the Eastern Region, he advised them to

carry old pestles to polling stations on voting day and use them to attack

opponents of the party who would want to disrupt the voting process. Speaking

in twi, one of the main Ghanaians languages, he said pestles which are no

longer in used (wormafunu) do not have to be licensed and thus the activists

should ensure they get one for use on the D-day. This outrageous comment has

earned him the name ‘Dr. Wormafunu’ among a section of the populace.

In the same address to

the NPP youths, he virtually insulted the then IGP, Paul Quaye, referring to

him as the helpless son of a woman. He further advised the youth to ensure that

they dash to government agencies and grab jobs and positions for themselves.

Ironically, one of the

victims of Sammy Awuku’s acidic tongue is Mr. Tsatsu Tsikata, presently counsel

for the third respondent in the election case who pleaded yesterday with the

Supreme Court to tamper justice with mercy in dealing with him.

Following allegation

made by Mr. Tsikata on day 14 of the Presidential Election Petition hearing

that the pink sheets tendered in evidence by the petitioners in court were not

up to the 11,842, Sammy Awuku said Tsatsu was arithmetically challenged!