Sir John
General Secretary of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie popularly known as ‘Sir John’ has eaten a humble pie after the Supreme Court slapped a GHC5,000 fine on him for contempt.
The NPP scribe was found guilty of intentional criminal contempt for making comments deemed contemptuous about the ongoing Presidential Election Petition.
Another youth activist of NPP,Hopeson Adorye, was also found guilty of contempt and fined GHC2,000.
Sir John and Hopeson are expected to apologize on the platform on which they made the comments and sign a bond of good behaviour for six and two month’s respectively.
Prior to the ruling, Sir John was subjected to an avalanche of criticisms for the disparaging comments against the bench.
The presiding judge, Justice William Atuguba rebuked the NPP scribed for endangering the common peace in the country.
He said a lawyer of his [Sir John] repute with 32 years experience should know better and not allow politics to overshadow his sense of reasoning.
The President of the Court decried the apparent show of pomposity by politicians in the already charged political atmosphere.
Justice Atuguba expressed disgust at the misguided utterances by some politicians and warned that if the trend is not checked, it could run down state institutions.
But a timely and witty defense by their lawyer Ayikoi Otoo managed to calm the nerves of the President of the Court.
Ahead of the ruling, Justice William Atuguba sarcastically suggested the temperature of Sir John be checked .
A wobbly Sir John said “my Lords, I am humbled by the baptism of fire”.