The Supreme Court, by a 4-1 majority decision, has placed a stay of proceedings on the Koforidua High Court’s sentencing of the Member of Parliament (MP) for Akwatia, Ernest Yaw Kumi, following his conviction for contempt.
This stay will remain in effect until a motion seeking to quash the ruling is determined.
Justice Gabriel Pwamang was the sole dissenting judge, while Justices Henrietta Mensa-Bonsu, Ernest Gaewu, Henry Anthony Kwofie, and Richard Adjei-Frimpong ruled in favour of the stay.
Earlier, the Supreme Court had fixed March 12, 2025, to decide whether or not to hear the convicted MP’s motion seeking to set aside an injunction barring him from holding himself as an MP without first purging himself of contempt at the High Court.
Justice Pwamang insisted that the Supreme Court could not grant Kumi an audience while he remained in contempt.
“We are doubting our right to accord you a hearing. Until that one is dealt with, I don’t think it’s appropriate to assume that we should be making orders,” he stated in response to Kumi’s lawyer, Gary Nimako Marfo, who had prayed the court to issue directives to the High Court before adjourning the matter.
The ruling came after Marfo had urged the Supreme Court to bar Justice Senyo Amedahe, the High Court judge who convicted Kumi, from proceeding with sentencing.
However, counsel for the first interested party, Bernard Bediako, opposed the application, arguing that granting the stay would effectively provide the relief sought in the substantive application to quash the High Court ruling.
The case has been adjourned to March 12, 2025.
Background of the case
On January 3, 2025, the Koforidua High Court issued an interim injunction preventing Kumi from being sworn in as MP.
The injunction followed a lawsuit filed by Henry Boakye-Yiadom, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) parliamentary candidate and former MP, against the Electoral Commission (EC), Kumi, and the Clerk to Parliament.
Boakye-Yiadom contested the election results, which declared Kumi the winner with 19,269 votes against his 17,206 votes.
However, Kumi defied the court order and was sworn in as MP on January 7, 2025.
Contempt conviction and arrest warrant
In February 2025, the High Court found Kumi guilty of contempt for disregarding the injunction and proceeding with his swearing-in.
Justice Amedahe subsequently issued a bench warrant for Kumi’s arrest, citing his continued absence from court since the contempt proceedings began.
The court rejected a letter from the Minority Caucus of Parliament, which claimed that Kumi was occupied with parliamentary duties and, therefore, unable to attend court.
MP’s motion for certiorari
Kumi, through his lawyers, has filed a motion at the Supreme Court seeking an order for certiorari and prohibition against the High Court ruling.
He argues that Justice Amedahe committed a jurisdictional error by assuming authority over a parliamentary election petition before the Electoral Commission had published the Gazette Notification of the results.
Kumi contends that the contempt ruling is void, claiming that the judge was biased and prejudiced when he refused to grant his lawyer audience on the basis that counsel had not filed an “Appearance” in the contempt application.
He is seeking a declaration that the petition filed by Boakye-Yiadom on December 31, 2024, before the Gazette Notification of the election results, was incompetent and did not properly invoke the jurisdiction of the High Court.
Furthermore, Kumi is asking the Supreme Court to quash the contempt ruling issued on February 19, 2025, the petition filed on December 31, 2024, and all interim injunctions granted based on that petition.
