President of the Supreme Court panel hearing the election petition Wednesday berated NPP General Secretary, Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie, who appeared before the court to answer contempt charges.
Justice William Atuguba snarled at an apologetic, supine Afriyie, asking, “who has instructed you to come to us”?
The NPP General Secretary, popularly known as ‘Sir John’ and a party communicator Hopeson Adorye, are in the Supreme Court Wednesday, after they made remarks regarding the case pending in the court which the judges deem contemptuous.
Mr. Owusu Afriyie is reported to have made despicable references to the presiding judge, likening him to a voodoo deity.
The opposition party’s General Secretary however appeared subdued after a written summons were issued to him and Adorye to appear before the judges and show cause why they should not be punished.
When they appeared in Court Wednesday, their lawyer, Ayikoi Otoo, a former Attorney General under the John Kufuor administration made a passionate plea to the judges to temper justice with mercy.
He said today was his 59th birthday, and the only birthday gift the judges can give is to allow the contemnors to go free.
But Atuguba condemned the posture of Sir John whom he said appeared lax and casual in court and said the kind of political game played by politicians in Ghana has serious repercussions for the peace and security of the State.
He said politicians have disabled law enforcement agencies because of the power they have arrogated to themselves and it is up to the judiciary to clamp down on political bigotry.
“If we don’t, we will be letting the state down,” he said.
He could not fathom why two people should die because of elections and stated that a mere election process for 275 MPs and a handful of presidential candidates ought not threaten the peace in the country.
He described Sir John’s utterances as amounting to “illegal political galamsey” alluding to illegal mining.
He said after the pomposity shown by the NPP General Secretary on political platforms, he wanted him to demonstrate the source of his power in court.
The court has risen to consider the NPP scribe’s fate and that of the other.