Court quashes arrest warrant against Power FM presenter

An Accra High Court quashed an arrest warrant it issued for the arrest of Oheneba Boamah Bennie, a presenter of Power FM, an Accra-based radio station.

On December 23 of this year, the court chaired by Judge Elfreda Dankyi issued an arrest warrant against the presenter. He was to appear in person in court.

Bennie had not appeared in court when the state lobbied for a contempt claim against him for insulting the president.

However, when the case was called, Mr. Kodjogah Adawudu, who represented the Respondent (Bennie), testified that his client was not feeling well and that he had forwarded to the court a right of apology issued by the Kaneshie polyclinic.

He said he copied the attorney general from said letter and asked the court to quash the arrest warrant.

Ms Yvonne Bannerman, a senior state attorney who was made aware of Mr Godfred Yeboah Dame, a deputy attorney general, said her outfit had not yet received a copy of the said letter.

The court said he had not seen a copy of the letter on his file. The court after hearing the two lawyers adjourned the case until January 14, 2021 and quashed the arrest warrant.

The Attorney General (AG) had filed a contempt motion against Bennie who claimed that President Akufo-Addo had prompted certain Supreme Court justices to rule in his favor in the event of an election petition.

On December 17 of this year, the AG took Bennie to court on a contempt of court application.

The state’s case was that following President Akufo-Addo’s declaration as President-elect by the Election Commission (EC), Bennie allegedly posted a video on his Facebook wall, claiming that President Akufo-Addo had met eight judges. of the Supreme Court, headed by the Chief Justice, and he urged them to vote in his favor in the event that there was a petition challenging his re-election.

Bennie, in this video footage, said the Ghanaians would not allow Superior Court judges to destroy the country and urged the military to stage a coup.

The AG argued that by Bennie’s post he meant to tell the public that justices, including Supreme Court justices, do not decide cases independently but on direction from the president.

According to the GA, if Bennie were allowed to go unpunished, it would amount to a blatant disrespect for the judiciary and a violation of the Constitution.

The AG said Bennie knew there was a possibility of a challenge to the presidential election in the Supreme Court and, therefore, by poisoning the public mind against the tribunal, he wanted to provoke the court’s disaffection. .

“That the respondent’s lack of respect for the judiciary and the publication of false news intended to discredit the judiciary make him liable to prison for asserting the indisputable authority of the judiciary enshrined in article 125 of the Constitution of 1992 ”, affidavit in support of the thesis of the Auditor General.