Richard Dela Sky writes: Kpessa-Whyte’s case; Can swift apology save him from contempt charges?

On that fateful day, the 17th of May in the year 2023, the Supreme Court exercised its original jurisdiction, invoked by Michael Ankomah Nimfah on the authority of the harmonious interplay of Articles 2(1) and 130(1)(a) of the Constitution.

In that seminal judgment, the Supreme Court unmistakably stated that an unequivocal determination of an individual’s eligibility for parliamentary candidature must be rendered at the time of filing nomination papers.

In the limited confines of a tweet, he opined with raw fervor, “They have succeeded in turning a Supreme Court into a Stupid Court.

He was keen to emphasize that, at the moment of crafting that tweet, he remained blissfully unaware of the Supreme Court’s Assin North decision.

In a rather predictable turn of events, the Supreme Court of Ghana, in an act that exudes both gravity and authority, issued criminal summons on this 25th day of May, 2023.

Prof Kpessa-Whyte steadfastly stressed his ignorance regarding the Supreme Court’s Assin North decision at the moment of crafting that fateful tweet

He went on, “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.” In an act of retraction, the tweet in question was wholly eradicated from the digital sphere, a symbolic act of remorse and recognition of the sacredness of the judicial institution