<<Print>>

A former presidential aspirant of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dr. Kobina Arthur Kennedy has said the Supreme Court panel hearing the 2012 Presidential Election Petition must temper justice with mercy with person�s cited with contempt. According to him, in as a much as the Supreme Court�s supremacy can jail individuals for contempt, it will be in the interest of Ghanaians to see the outcome of the petition which has lasted closed to three months now. He believes utterances which are described by the court as contemptuous statements are not �words that will tarnish the image of the court in anyway�. Though the former NPP presidential aspirant rubbished comments made by NDC�s Stephen Atubiga on an Accra-based radio station that, �Ghana will not contain all of us if the Supreme Court�s verdict goes against President John Mahama and the NDC.� Nevertheless, Dr. Kennedy believes Atubiga�s declaration should be dealt with by the National Security and not the Supreme Court since that could trigger mayhem after the courts final ruling. �He (Atubiga) shouldn�t have said that because it threatens the peace and security of the country. I don�t see how he should be called by the Supreme Court; we have the National Security authorities and they are to handle that. ��why should we ignore the main issue at hand and concentrate much on why Atubiga said that? To me that is not important that much, rather much concentration should be based on the main issue (election petition),� he said. In an interview with Okay FM, the NPP USA based outspoken leading member called on the Supreme Court to halt inviting persons cited with contempt to the court so as to accelerate the proceedings. �I think they (Judges) should stop inviting anyone cited for contempt to the court because their words do not tarnish the reputation of the court,� he repeated. According to him, investors are worried to operate in Ghana due to how the petition hearing has been prolonged. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court presided over by Justice William Atuguba will on Tuesday hear a contemptuous case of the trio; Mr. Kenneth Agyei Kuranchie, Editor of the Daily Searchlight newspaper; Stephen Atubiga, a member of the communication team of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC), and Kwaku Boahen, the Ashanti Regional Youth Organiser of the NDC, for their prejudicial statements on the ongoing presidential election petition.