By a 4-1 majority decision, the Supreme Court on Tuesday, quashed a bench warrant issued for the arrest of Kelvin Taylor, a journalist by Justice Eric Kyei- Baffour on January 15, January 2020.
The court presided over by Justice Issifu Amadu Tanko stated that Justice Baffour, a Court of Appeal judge, ought to have given Mr Taylor a fair hearing before issuing the bench warrant against Mr Taylor, a Ghanaian and a citizen of the United States of America.
Justice Kyei- Baffour, then with additional responsibility sitting as a High Court judge, issued the warrant Thursday [January 16, 2020] due to a video circulated by Taylor on Facebook.
The judge issued the warrant before the cross examination of Eugene Baffour-Bonnie, one of the accused persons and a former Board Chairman of the National Communications Authority (NCA).
Taylor said in the video that Justice Kyei-Baffour was promoted to the Court of Appeal from the High Court because he was doing the bidding of the government in the trial of the five people accused of embezzling $4 million belonging to the National Communications Authority (NCA).
In his ruling Thursday, Justice Kyei-Baffour said the video by Taylor sought to incite people against him and the court.
He held that Taylor’s action was scandalous and an affront to the justice delivery system.
“As a judge of impeccable integrity and outmost honesty, I find it necessary to invoke the powers vested in me under the constitution to proceed and cite him for contempt.
”I issue a warrant for him to be produced before the court to show cause why he should not be committed to prison,” Justice Kyei-Baffour stated.
The warrant was directed to the Ghana Police service and other security agencies to find Taylor who is said to be outside the country.
More soon
BY MALIK SULLEMANA
