A year after serving his 10-day jail term in three prisons across the country, the Editor-in-Chief of the Daily Searchlight Newspaper, Ken Kuranchie seems not to show any remorse for his contemptuous publication.
According to him, he still stands by his publication as factual despite the Supreme Court’s disagreement which led to his jailing.
“It was under an extraordinary circumstance that I was cited for contempt. I don’t regret my publication since It was not offensive compared to what other papers published,” he said on OKAY FM’s Ade Akye Abia
Ken Kuranchie fell afoul of the law when he criticized the Supreme Court’s rebuke of a former Deputy Communications Director of the New Patriotic Party [NPP], Sammy Awuku in a front-page comment in his newspaper.
He wondered why the court heard Sammy Awuku’s comments but didn’t hear worse comments made by others during the hearings.
Earlier, Mr. Awuku had suggested that the court was being selective and hypocritical in citing a Daily Guide newspaper publication for bad reportage on Peace FM’s Kokrokoo programme.
Sammy Awuku therefore apologized to the court and was forbidden from attending the proceedings after a summon.
Mr. Kuranchie agreed with Sammy Awuku’s views that the court was being selective and hypocritical.
He asked the court to provide guidelines on what constituted contemptuous comments, insisting that if the court gave a ruling, the public was entitled to comment on it and to use strong language in doing so.
The Supreme Court found Ken Kuranchie’s publication as criminal contempt and was sentenced to 10 days imprisonment.
However, till date many describe Ken Kuranchie’s incarceration as a “jail-tour” because of his frequent transfer from one prison to another.
