The presiding judge in the ongoing Election Petition hearing, in an ominous departure from the norm, began Wednesday's proceedings with a search for Sammy Awuku, New Patriotic Party (NPP) Deputy Communications director. It is not clear yet what he wants to do to the NPP spokesperson but he cited Awuku for making presumptuous comments regarding a warning he issued last week to deal with persons who misreport the court proceedings. The court has issued several warnings to lawyers and journalists to desist from misreporting proceedings in the court but those appear to have gone unheeded. On Monday Justice Atuguba gave a final warning that the court will no longer tolerate such behaviors, adding “any person be it in the media or not who crosses the final touchline of proper coverage reportage will be met with the appropriate response.” Sammy Awuku did not appear enthused with the warning by the Presiding Judge. On a discussion programme a day after warning was issued, he accused the panel of being selective in their application of their powers. He questioned why the Daily Guide newspaper was singled out for criticism when other pro-NDC newspapers and representatives had made worse comments about the proceedings. His reactions have not been taken lightly by the Panel. When the hearing resumed, Wednesday, Justice Atuguba opened proceedings by asking the audience if the NPP man was present in court. “I hear he comes to court”, he said and added he did not know him. He said although the court had issued final warning, “some people seem to be above them”. He said the judges by virtue of their work do not know the executive or monitor political commentary. Nonetheless, such political commentary if unguarded can have serious consequences for the security of this country. He noted the ordinary Ghanaian relies heavily on political figures for information. When this information is skewed, it can cause tensions leading to violence and their attendant loss of lives as exampled by the 2007 Kenyan experience. He said the court will not allow public confidence in the judiciary to break down and reiterated that the final warning given by the bench covers everybody in this country “from the President down to everybody”. Although Awuku was not in court, the judge said the bench “will deal with the matter in due course”.