Court deprives Jehu- Appiah of Akaboah status … As he is found guilty of contempt of court

MOCKNA JEEBA Fiifi Jehu-Appiah, who has since December 27, 2007 been installed as   Akaboha (Spiritual Leader) of the Mozama Disco Christo Church (MDCC), has purged himself of a contempt of court and renounced his position as Akaboha.

The renunciation followed a Cape Coast High Court ruling, which found him guilty of contempt of court.

Having complied with the orders of the court, presided over by Mr. Justice V. G. K. Ayimey, Jehu-Appiah was cautioned and discharged, and in addition was ordered to pay a cost of GH¢1,000.

In a court ruling of March 19, this year, Justice Ayimey convicted Jehu-Appiah, and ordered him not to put out himself as Akaboha of the MDCC, until the final determination of an appeal before the Supreme Court.

The applicant in the said motion had prayed for an injunction to restrain the respondent from holding any activity at Mozama purporting to install an Akaboha, pending an appeal at a superior court.

The court's decision was premised on its conviction that the respondent had deliberately interfered with the fair trial of the pending appeal.

It noted that while the right to be Akaboha was being investigated, and before the court could hear the matter, a new Akaboha was installed and functioned as such thereafter, even though an appeal was filed before the installation.

According to the court, the appeal was pending when the respondent was installed.

In the circumstance, everything the respondent did as Akaboha, from his installation to the time the Court of Appeal delivered the judgment, was an act of usurping the judicial power from the judiciary, hence the contempt of court charge, and the subsequent directive for Jehu-Appiah to renounce the position until the case has been determined.