[ad_1]
An Accra High Court issued an arrest warrant for Oheneba Boamah Bennie, a journalist for the Accra-based radio station Power FM, who faces a count of contempt of court.
Bennie was brought to court by the Attorney General (AG) for contempt of court after he (Bennie) allegedly claimed that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo had influenced some Supreme Court justices to rule in his favor in a case of electoral petition after the victory of the president in the recently concluded general elections of 2020.
The court, chaired by Judge Elfreda Amy Dankyi, issued the arrest warrant on Wednesday after Bennie failed to appear in court today.
A request from a deputy prosecutor, Godfred Yeboah Dame, followed.
According to the court order, Bennie is to be arrested and presented in court on Thursday, December 24, 2020.
Background
The attorney general dragged Bennie to court on December 17 of this year for contempt of court.
Following President Akufo-Addo’s declaration as president-elect by the Electoral Commission (EC), Bennie allegedly posted a video on his Facebook wall, alleging that President Akufo-Addo had met with eight Supreme Court justices, led by the Chief Justice, and had influenced them.
He claimed that the president used the alleged meeting to influence the supreme court justices to rule in his favor should any electoral petition challenge his re-election as declared by the EC.
In said video, he allegedly said that Ghanaians would not allow Supreme Court justices to destroy the country and urged the military to organize a coup.
Violation of the Constitution
The AG argues that, through his post, Bennie wants to tell the public that judges, including supreme court justices, decide cases not independently, but on the instructions of the president.
Such an assertion, argued the Attorney General, if left unpunished, would amount to a serious lack of respect for the judiciary, which constitutes a violation of the 1992 Constitution.
According to the Attorney General, Bennie knew that there was a possibility of a challenge to the presidential election in the Supreme Court, and therefore, by poisoning the minds of the public against the court, he wanted to cause disaffection in the court.
“That the defendant’s lack of respect for the Judiciary and the publication of false news intended to discredit the Judicial Power makes him liable to be sentenced to prison to vindicate the undoubted authority of the Judicial Power enshrined in Article 125 of the 1992 Constitution” , the Affidavit was added in support of the Attorney General’s case.
