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Minister In Court For Contempt |
| Public Sector Reforms Minister, Mr Samuel Owusu-Agyei, has appeared before the Swedru High Court to show cause why he should not be cited for contempt of court. |
Mr Agyei was dragged to the court by three members of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) who claimed he had defied the court’s order restraining him from holding himself up as the NPP parliamentary candidate for the Effutu Constituency.
According to the interested parties, the minister, through his agents, had put up campaign posters portraying him as the parliamentary candidate for the constituency in defiance of the court,s order.
The interested parties are Mr Decent Rockson, former Effutu Constituency Chairman; Madam Agnes Beatrice Mensah, former constituency women’s organiser; and Mr Nicholas Bortsi, a member of the party.
Their counsel, Mr Komla Onny, said on May 13, 2008, the court granted an order restraining the minister from holding himself up as the parliamentary candidate and the order was duly served on all defendants.
In spite of that, Mr Owusu-Agyei, on May 21, 2008, had his campaign posters posted throughout the constituency.
Counsel said on the campaign posters was the inscription “Still Owusu-Agyei”, which was an indication that they were trying to tell the whole constituency that the minister was “still large and in charge”.
He said the said act was carried out during a period when the order was still pending and that rendered the respondent liable to contempt.
According to counsel, the act was one that could interfere with the orderly administration of justice in the constituency. “The intention of the respondent is to impair the dignity of the court.” , he contended.
But Nana Asante Bediatuo, counsel for Mr Owusu-Agyei, countered those arguments by stating that the onus was on the plaintiffs to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the people who put up the posters were lawful agents of the minister.
He said the plaintiffs had not offered any names or identification of the said agents to provide a basis for their claim, stressing that they could only have been his agents if he had instructed them to do so.
Nana Bediatuo said in any event, the order was one that restrained the minister from holding himself up as the parliamentary candidate of the constituency and did not make reference to his agents. “The order talks about himself and not his agents,” Nana Bediatuo stated.
He argued that it was important to establish when the posters were put up as they could have been put up between May 1, 2008 when the primary was held and May 13, 2008, when the court granted the order. |
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