Manhyia Not Mahama Office

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Category: NewsBrief

Created on Monday, 03 March 2014 00:00

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Manhyia Not Mahama Office

THE Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, has stated categorically that President John Dramani Mahama is not governing the country from the Manhyia Palace in Kumasi, the traditional seat of the Asantehene.

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Where is the Docket, Mr Registrar?

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Category: Letters & Emails

Created on Friday, 14 February 2014 00:00

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Where is the Docket, Mr Registrar?

The judiciary is the bastion of Ghana’s democracy. If it allows itself to be compromised or bastardized, there will be no future for the country. The country would revert to the State of Nature where life is very short, nasty and brutish. But that is not what the country needs.

The founding fathers fought to bring this country to the state where we are now. My heart therefore bleeds to hear that we have such criminals masquerading as officers of the law.

How can a docket get missing on the very day judgement was going to be given in suit which both parties have spent time and money on? This is a mind bugging case whose knot could only be untangled by Her Lord, Chief Justice and the Judicial Council.

I have been compelled to comment on a legal tussle between two parties which is before An Accra High Court of Justice, Land Division, presided over by His Lordship Justice John A. Jet-Nasam.

The crux of the matter is that there is a land dispute at Sowutuom, near Pentecost University College, Accra, between the families of Ben Tetteh Ocloo and Emmanuel Kingsley Appiah. The piece of building land was acquired by the Tetteh Ocloo family as far back as 1997, but due to financial constraint their application for Land Title Registration could only be effected in 1994. After payment of the prescribed fee, the Yellow Card was issued to them.

Suddenly, one Mr Emmanuel Kingsley Appiah appeared on the scene claiming ownership of the said land. He ordered the Tetteh Ocloo family to vacate the portion of land. The latter had already put up a structure on the land to serve as their residence. Obviously, they resisted every move by Mr. Appiah to evict them from what they termed their bona fide property.

Mr. Kingsley Appiah sent the case to the Circuit Court at 28th February Road (Cocoa Affairs) Accra. The case was listed under Suit No OCL 111/99 between Emmanuel Kingsley Appiah of H/NO.A354/4 Sakumo Crescent and Linus Ocloo of Plot No.320, West Akweteman, Accra. Mr Appiah stopped appearing in court when he realized that the odds were heavily staked against him. The case has been pending since.

In 2008, MTN built its mask on a portion of the disputed land. Sensing that the Ocloo family would be the beneficiary of the building of the mask by the MTN, Mr Emmanuel Kingsley Appiah resurfaced to once more stake his claim for the land in question.

He renewed his litigation by sending the case to the Financial Division of Accra High Court 11. Suit No. IRL/21/08 has Emmanuel Kingsley Appiah as Plaintiff with Scancom, Linus Ocloo and Benjamin Ocloo as 1ST, 2ND 3RD Defendants.

The Defenders are being represented by Solicitors B. Nutsukpi Esq. and Sean Poku Esq. of Dery and Company, 2nd Floor, Bonsa House, Kwame Nkrumah Avenue, Adabraka.

Judgment was to be delivered on 25th February, 2013, but the Court made an Order for the preparation of Composite Plan in the suit.

Earlier on, the Court had granted Plaintiff leave to amend her Writ of Summons and Accompanying Statement of Claim filed on 6/11/2008.

The Court was to give final judgement on 21st January, 2014. But on the day in question, the Presiding Judge shocked everybody present when he stated openly that he could not deliver judgement on the case because the docket/case file could not be found.

The mind bogging questions are why and how? What does the Court Register have to say to that? In whose custody was the docket? What is happening to our justice system? Is it a case of cocaine turning into “konkonte” or baking powder?

The Court Registrar at the close of the day’s proceedings called both parties separately to inform them that the new date for judgement had been fixed for Friday, 28th February, 2014. How did the docket resurface and at what time or point was it found?

We know Justice John A. Jet-Nasam to be a man of integrity, honesty who is trained, firm and experienced to deliver good judgement and we expect him to live by the tenets of his profession. We expect nothing less than these.

Come Friday, 28th February, 2014 we expect the truth to come out as to who is the true owner of that piece of land which is tearing both parties apart. And the truth is in Justice Jet-Nasam bosom. No matter which side the verdict favours, we must not overlook the fact that someone somewhere in the Judiciary had attempted to use his position to thwart the course of justice.If the attempt had succeeded, it would have been seen as a constitutional coup against the Republic of Ghana, the country we all claim to love and cherish very much.

The earlier Her Lordship, Mrs. Justice Georgina Wood ordered a thorough and immediate investigation into the matter, the better it would be for the entire judicial system. There should be no sacred cow. Nothing should be done to shield the miscreant who attempted to bring the name of the Judiciary into disrepute.

Madam, Chief Justice, Ghanaians await your action on this matter.

Source: Daniel Danquah Damptey (0243715297) This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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NDC Get Set For Congress

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Category: NewsBrief

Created on Monday, 03 March 2014 00:00

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NDC Get Set For Congress

Leadership of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) is gearing up to hold series of conferences leading to its national delegates’ congress.

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Tsatsu Tsikata, Gabby Otchere-Darko Face Legal Council...

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Category: Letters & Emails

Created on Wednesday, 12 February 2014 00:00

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Tsatsu Tsikata, Gabby Otchere-Darko Face Legal Council...

The Disciplinary Committee of the General Legal Council, has summoned Tsatsu Tsikata and Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko over their criticisms of some Supreme Court Justices who presided over the presidential Election Petition last year.

Mr. Tsikata, who represented the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the election petition and Mr. Otchere-Darko, the former Executive Director of the Danquah Institute, a think tank aligned to the opposi­tion New Patriotic Party (NPP), have been officially served with an invitation to respond to the controver­sial criticisms before February 21, 2014.

"I have been directed by the Chairperson of the Dis­ciplinary Committee of the General Legal Council to forward the attached document from the Ghana Bar Association for your response to enable the Committee address the issues raised in it. We would be grateful if you could submit the response before 21st February, 2014," the letter, signed by Bernard Bentil, Secretary to the Council, stated.

GBA Petition:

An earlier letter was attached to the one under refer­ence dated November 19, 2013, written by the Ghana Bar Association which expressed displeasure at the comments allegedly made by the two lawyers. The BAR Council takes a serious view of the comments and would be grateful if your august body that has the power to take action against errant members of the Ghana Bar would investigate the matter and deal with the said lawyers in accordance with the law. The Bar Council would be most grateful for your intervention in this matter," the letter, signed by Justine A. Amenuvor, the National Secretary of the association, indicated.

The Criticisms:

Immediately after the nine-member panel of the Supreme Court that sat on the landmark election peti­tion had delivered their ver­dict, Mr. Tsikata specifically targeted Justice Kwasi Anin Yeboah, saying he allowed his political affiliation to the NPP to cloud his judgment.

Apparently, Mr. Tsikata, whose client the final verdict favoured, concluded that Justice Anin Yeboah’s judgment in the eight-month long trial had consistently opposed the position of the NDC.

According to complain­ing Tsikata, the Justice did not take a 'balanced judicial position' in the petition.

"... We all understand that the judiciary is made up of human beings. They have their own political ambitions and in his [Justice Anin Yeboah's] case, he was appointed as a judge by President Kufuor. He proba­bly still has a certain loyalty to the cause of [Mr. Kufour]," Tsatsu Tsikata stated on a TV3 talk-show, Point Blank, hosted by mav­erick Kwesi Pratt.

His statement sparked a counter reaction from Mr. ‘Otchere-Darko on a different platform where he described the final verdict of the Supreme Court as 'farcical' and 'corrupt judgment'.

"This was a corrupt judgment, and I say so with­out apologies," the former Executive Director of the Danquah Institute, who was obviously not happy with the final verdict, wrote on his facebook wall last year.

"The fact that I totally disagree with a decision of the court does not mean I do not accept it. Justice is not what I want it to be. But I will not stop condemning what I find to be wrong. I'm entitled to my opinion as much as the nine justices were, and I maintain that what they did was farcical and the decision was a cor­rupt one, disrespectful of the Constitution of the Repub­lic," he wrote.

Lack of Clarity

The Bar Association quoted these statements to •the General Legal Council and requested for action to be taken against the two lawyers. However, a partner of Mr. Otchere-Darko who works in Ampem Chambers, a law firm in Accra, protested that the letter from the disciplinary council lacked clarity.

According to Nana Asante Bediatuo, the sum­mons letter lacked clarity because it did not specify the exact breach that the lawyers have made that required a response.

Referring to the letter sent to the General Legal Council by the Bar Associa­tion for action, Mr. Asante Bediatuo explained that the Bar Association should have clearly stated the issues they felt was discrediting of the judges; ".. .if you send a doc­ument to the General Legal Council disciplinary com­mittee, you have to make allegations and those allega­tions can then be responded to, merely repeating state­ments that somebody else has made in public and ask­ing the General Legal Coun­cil to act on them does not raise allegations that can be capable of being responded to.

"Maybe I will have to write to the General Legal Council for better and fur­ther particulars," Nana Bediatuo told Daily Guide in a telephone inter­view on Wednesday. "We don't know what we are supposed to be responding to."

For Nana Bediatuo, he does not see anything wrong with what Gabby Otchere-Darko said about the judgment.

"To say that somebody has made their free speech right to make certain com­ments in public and then to ask them to comment on that speech is bizarre, I don't understand it.

"To say that one has crit­icized a judge raises no cul­pable act; to say that one has put a judge in bad light does not mean anything in the disciplinary actions. Now to say that one has behaved contemptuously towards a judge; that raises some issues...

"To say that somebody has put a judge in a bad light, for example, could mean that you have, on legal grounds, rubbished a judg­ment that they gave to show that that judgment was without merit, and that will obviously put the judge in a bad light; mat is normal, it doesn't mean anything," the ace lawyer argued.

Indeed, the criticisms from both Mr. Tsikata and Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko generated intense public dis­course which was divided along two lines of whether or not to criticize judgments after they have been made.

According to him, the Ampem Chambers would officially write to the Gener­al Legal Council for clarifica­tions by Friday.

Source: Daily Guide

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