Baako dissents on Justices’ contempt ruling

Managing editor of the New Crusading Guide Newspaper says the controversial editorial that has sent Ken Kuranchie, Editor of the Daily Searchlight newspaper touring Ghana’s jail for ten days does not constitute contempt of court.

Kweku Baako Jnr in a dissenting opinion from the one which announced the ten day sentence handed by Justice William Atuguba said, Ken Kuranchie’s editorial may at worst be sarcastic but “does not cause a fatal injury to the court,” neither does it “interfere or undermine the administration of justice.”

He was commenting on Joy FM and Multi TV’s news analysis programme Newsfile on Saturday.

Ken Kuranchie was charged and found guilty for criminal contempt after he wrote an editorial in support of a comment by Sammy Awuku, Deputy Director of Communications of the NPP that the Supreme Court Justices hearing the presidential election petition were being “hypocritical and selective”.

When Awuku was confronted by the judges at the Supreme Court, he offered to withdraw and apologise for his comments. On his own plea, he was banned from attending the rest of the hearing.

Ken Kuranchie in his editorial said Awuku was right in his description of the judges, a statement which got the Justices angry all the more.

They invited, heard and jailed him for criminal contempt.

That jail sentence has generated controversy over whether the justices were right in their decision and also whether they were right in handing a custodial sentence for a contempt case.

Kweku Baako Jnr believes it is time for “a critical look” at this “animal called contempt.”

A victim of contempt in the past, Baako Jnr said he has read over and over again the content of Ken Kuranchie’s editorial and does not see any willful attempt to scandalize the court.

He said the time has come to check the “unfettered power” of the judiciary relative to the contempt issue.

Kweku Baako Jr explained that with a contempt charge that is undefined, it is amenable to abuse by an overbearing and all powerful judiciary.

Like, Justice Apaloo, the New Crusading Guide newspaper editor insisted custodial sentences are too harsh for contempt cases.

A member of the NDC, Abraham Amaliba who was also on the show' defined contempt as a conduct that “defies the dignity of the court.”

He said if your conduct seeks to muddy the waters, you could be cited for contempt.

He, however, called for a different approach in dealing with contempt cases.

He would rather the contemnor appears before separate judges, not the ones who are making the contempt allegations.