Supreme Court strikes out contempt charge against Dominic Ayine
The Supreme Court on Thursday (25 February) struck out the contempt charge leveled against Dr. Dominic Ayine, former deputy attorney general and a spokesperson for the petitioner in the ongoing election petition.
Chief Justice Anin Yeboah, delivering the verdict said Dr. Ayine was being discharged because he adhered to the orders of the court.
Dr. Dominic Ayine rendered an unqualified apology to the Supreme Court over some contempt statements.
In a post-hearing media interview, Dr. Ayine told journalists he feels the election 2020 petition hearing has been “predetermined.”
“We have made it abundantly clear in the petition that there were a number of infractions, we are contesting even the constitutionality of the declaration that was made. We are saying that she violated Article 23 because she is an administrative body, we have also said the exercise of discretion was contrary to Article 296 of the Constitution.
Predetermined agenda
“And to reduce the petition to a single-issue petition is rather unfortunate and smack of a predetermined agenda to rule against the petition in this matter.”
He added: “We think that the court by this decision has not done the people of this country a great service, in the sense that Ghanaians are interested in knowing the truth. The justices today have not given as a reason to believe that they want the people of this country to know the truth about what happened…why figures kept changing from 9 December.”
The development forced the Supreme Court to institute contempt proceedings against Dr. Ayine, who is also a member of the legal team of John Mahama, petitioner, in the ongoing Election 2020 petition hearing.
“I did say those words… on the advice and consultation with my counsel I’ve written to the court rendering an unqualified apology,” Dr. Ayine told the court on Monday 22 February 2021 when he went into the dock.
Deeply remorseful
His lead counsel Frank Bechem also added: “Our client has no excuse. He deeply regrets the harm done to his profession and the disrespect shown to the court. He’s sorry for what he’s done. He’s deeply remorseful and sorry for what he’s done.”
The apex court then directed Dr. Ayine to use the same platform – media – to retract the contempt statement.
“We don’t want anything from him, he should just go back to the media and retract the statement that he made,” Chief Justice Anin Yeboah said.
