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An Accra High Court struck down a warrant it issued for the arrest of Oheneba Boamah Bennie, host of Power FM, an Accra-based radio station.
On December 23 of this year, the Court, presided over by Magistrate Elfreda Dankyi, issued an arrest warrant against the presenter. He was to appear in person in court.
Bennie had not appeared in court when the state lobbied for a contempt petition against him for insulting the president.
However, when the case was called, Mr. Kodjogah Adawudu, who represented the defendant (Bennie), said that his client was unwell and that he had referred an excuse of duty issued by the Kaneshie Polyclinic to the court.
He said that he had copied the Attorney General’s letter and prayed to the Court to annul the arrest warrant.
Ms. Yvonne Bannerman, a senior state attorney who briefed Godfred Yeboah Dame, a deputy attorney general, said her team had not yet received a copy of the letter.
The court said it has not seen a copy of the letter in its file. The court, after hearing from the two lawyers, postponed the matter until January 14, 2021 and overturned the court order.
The Attorney General (AG) had filed a contempt suit against Bennie, who claimed that President Akufo-Addo had influenced some Supreme Court justices to rule in his favor on any electoral petition.
On December 17 of this year, the attorney general took Bennie to court for a request for contempt of court.
The state’s case was that, following the declaration of President Akufo-Addo as president-elect by the Electoral Commission (EC), Bennie allegedly posted a video on his Facebook wall, claiming that President Akufo-Addo had met with eight judges. of the Supreme Court, headed by the Chief Justice, and had influenced them to rule in his favor should there be any petition challenging his re-election.
Bennie, in said video, said that the Ghanaians would not allow the Superior Court judges to destroy the country and urged the army to carry out a coup.
The attorney general argued that through Bennie’s post, he wanted to tell the public that judges, including supreme court justices, decide cases not independently, but on the instructions of the president.
According to the Attorney General, leaving Bennie unpunished would amount to gross disrespect for the judiciary and a violation of the Constitution.
The attorney general said that Bennie knew there was the 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 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 in support of AG’s case said.
