The Managing Editor of the Insight newspaper, Kwesi Pratt Jnr, has revealed that he advised deputy NPP Communications Director, Sammy Awuku, against his choice of words which led to his being tried for contempt at the Supreme Court, but he did not listen.
Sammy Awuku was on Wednesday June 26, 2013, grilled by the nine justices hearing the presidential election petition for comments they deemed contemptuous to the ongoing judicial process and only escaped jail term, after counsel for both the petitioners and the respondents pleaded on his behalf.
Mr Awuku, who claimed he was provoked by earlier comments by an NDC panelist on the radio programme, withdrew his comments and unreservedly apologised to the court.
He further undertook to apologise on the same radio platform on which he made the comments deemed defamatory by the court.
He was nevertheless banned from attending the proceedings of the petition at the Supreme Court.
Speaking on Adom FM’s Dwaso Nsem morning show on Thursday June 27, 2013, Kwesi Pratt Jnr said “I saw it coming and advised my friend Sammy to watch his words, but he stuck to his guns. He didn’t listen to me.”
Explaining the circumstances which led to his caution Mr Pratt, who was a co-panelist on the programme, said he even attempted to apologise to the court on behalf of the NPP communicator, but he rebuffed his offer, saying “I (Sammy Awuku) don’t need your apology. I stand by what I am saying (that the judges are being selective in their criticism of the media).”
The Insight Editor said he however issued a blanket apology on behalf of the station and the panelists because “as an experienced journalist, I knew the possible consequences of what he was saying. I warned him but he didn’t listen.”
He was confident Sammy Awuku and the communicators of all the political parties would learn the appropriate lessons from Wednesday’s events at the Supreme Court.
