Lecturer at the University of Ghana and member of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Prof Michael Kpessa Whyte has been cited for contempt by the Supreme Court.

This borders on a series of tweets by Prof Whyte on May 19.

The summons issued alleges that he posted the following;

“The highest Court of the Land has been turned into a ‘Stupid Court’.

“They have succeeded in turning a Supreme Court into a Stupid Court. Common – sense is now a scarce commodity.”

“A major element in the death of democracies is partisanship in the delivery of justice.

Our judges need lessons in political philosophy and ethics.

“Time will tell.”

He is to appear at the Highest Court of the land on May 30 to justify why he should not be cited for contempt of Court for scandalising the Supreme Court, bringing into ridicule the dignity, respect, and stature of the Supreme Court and Inciting prejudice against the Supreme Court.

Attached to the summons are copies of series of publications by various portals arising from Prof. Whyte’s tweet. 

Prof. Whyte’s comments were made at a time of heated public discussion regarding the Supreme Court’s order to Parliament to expunge the name of James Gyakye Quayson from its records after it found that he had not renounced his Canadian Citizenship at the time he filed his nomination forms to contest the Assin North polls in 2020.

Even before he appears before the court, the lecturer has already issued a statement apologising to the court. He also explains that his tweet was not in any way related to the Assin North judgement.

“I have observed that Ghanaweb and other media publications sought to associate my tweet with the decision of the Supreme Court in the Assin North matter as stated on the face of the Summons to show cause, but honestly at the time of my tweet, I had no knowledge of the Supreme Court’s decision as at 9: 59am when I did the tweet.

The said tweet has resulted in the invocation of the powers of Apex Court in our country for me to appear and show cause, because the tweet has scandalized the Apex Court of our land and has brought the dignity of the court into disrepute.

Sincerely, the tweet was not done with the intent to scandalize, or denigrate a revered institution such as the Supreme Court of Ghana for which I have tremendous amount of respect and admiration. These are consequences I never intended, although I do accept responsibility that, I could have exercised better judgment in my choice of words.

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.

I hereby retract the tweet in question; accordingly, the tweet has been deleted completely and I pray for forgiveness.”