The Supreme Court has by a 4-1 majority decision stayed the High Court in Koforidua from sentencing the Member of Parliament for the Akwatia Constituency, Ernest Yaw Kumi in a contempt case pending the final determination of a motion seeking to quash the ruling.

Justice Gabriel Pwamang, dissented while the four other members of the panel approved the stay.

Background

In a motion on notice for an order for certiorari and prohibition, the MP through his counsel contended that the High Court judge committed a jurisdictional error of law on the face of the record when he assumed jurisdiction in Parliamentary Election Petition at Akwatia Constituency at the time when the Electoral Commission had not published the Gazette Notification.

The MP argued that the High Court Judge breached the rules of natural justice when he proceeded to hear and determine the contempt application despite the pendency of his (the MP) motion to set aside the said contempt application for want of jurisdiction

According to him, the High Court Judge was also biased and highly prejudiced against him when he, among others, refused to grant his counsel audience on the basis that counsel had not filed an “Appearance” in the contempt application.

The MP sought a declaration that the Petition filed by Henry Boakye-Yiadom, the first Interested Party (IP) on December 31, 2024 in the absence of the Gazette Notification of the Parliamentary Election Result to which the election relates was incompetent as same did not properly invoke the jurisdiction of the High Court and that “any order founded on the same is void and of no effect.”

Mr Kumi also sought a “declaration that the Contempt Proceedings and Ruling dated 19th February 2025, found on premature election petition filed on 31st December 2024 is void and of no effect”.

The MP prayed for an order of certiorari from the Supreme Court quashing the Koforidua High Court ruling dated February 19, 2025, the petition filed on December 31, 2024, and the interim injunction order on January 2, 2025, and ruling on January 6, 2025, made pursuant to the said premature Election Petition, filed December 31, 2024.