Wereko-Brobby files injunction to stop collection of TV licence fees

A former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Volta River Authority (VRA), Dr Charles Wereko-Brobby, has filed a suit at the High Court to contest moves by the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) to collect television licence fees from August 1, 2015.

According to the applicant, the GBC did not have legislative backing to collect television licence fees from owners of television sets.
Authorities at the state broadcaster, with the backing of the National Media Commission (NMC), have declared their intention to resume the collection of television licence fees.
But the plan has been met with stiff opposition from the public.
Dr Wereko-Brobby is one of the leading opponents of the proposed resumption of the collection of television licence fees.
In a writ of summons, the applicant is praying the Fast Track High Court to perpetually restrain GBC from “illegally” collecting TV licence fees.
Joined to the suit are the NMC, the Ghana Independent Broadcasters Association (GIBA) and the Attorney-General.
GBC cannot share money
The plaintiff contends that the GBC “cannot share any money received by it with any other entity, whether private or state-owned, as same ought to be deposited in its bank accounts”.
He also contends that the NMC, GIBA and the Attorney-General “have not been appointed by the Minister of Finance by any Legislative Instrument to be a licensing authority(s), as provided for by NLCD 89; particularly when GIBA, as an association and/or its individual members, are not statutory corporations”.
He is, accordingly, praying the court to declare that it is illegal for the NMC and the GIBA to be beneficiaries of any TV licence fees collected.
Statement of claim
A statement of claim accompanying the writ of summons stated that per Section 2(1)(a) of NLCD 226, the GBC, as part of its objective, was mandated to undertake sound, commercial and television broadcasts.
It said it was provided for in Section 8(1) of NLCD 226 that the GBC shall provide, as a public service, independent and impartial broadcasting services, sound and television for general reception in the Republic (Ghana).
It contended that GIBA was not under any obligation, whether by law or morality, to provide public service, independent and impartial broadcasting services like GBC.
It noted that Section 8(3) of NLCD 226 also provides that the GBC may engage in commercial broadcasting through the sale of paid advertisements scheduled at prescribed spots in its programme service.
It said: “Section 1(1) of the Television Licensing Act, 1966; NLCD 89 provides that except as otherwise prescribed, a person shall not install or use a television set unless there is in relation to that set a valid television receiving set licence granted by the licensing authority under NLCD 89.”
Section 13 of NLCD 89, which is the Interpretation Section of NLCD 89, defines “licensing authority”, as provided for in the said law, thus: “means the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation or any other statutory corporation appointed by the minister by legislative instrument and the corporation shall have the functions conferred on the licensing authority under this act, despite anything in the enactment under which it exists”.
“Plaintiff contends that apart from 1st defendant, all the other defendants, as well as the Film and Media Development Funds, have not been authorised as licensing authority(s) for the collection of TV licence fees; nor are they entitled to be beneficiaries, according to existing law.
“Plaintiff further contends that by reason of Section 10(c) of NLCD 226, TV licence fees collected by 1st defendant belong solely to 1st defendant and are to be deposited to the credit of 1st defendant in its bank account(s); for its sole use and not to be shared according to any phantom formula, as has been contrived between defendants to share TV licence fees, which fees are taxes in the intendment of Article 174(1) of the 1992 Constitution which provides that no taxation shall be imposed otherwise than, by or under the authority of an Act of Parliament,” the affidavit said.

Court dismisses suit challenging engagement of West Blue

 
A suit challenging the decision by the government to engage West Blue Ghana Limited to implement the Single Window and Risk Management System project at the country’s ports has been dismissed.

The Human Rights Division of the High Court in Accra also threw out an application for injunction against the award of the contract to the company through sole sourcing.
According to the court, the applicant, Mr Michael Kweku Djan, had failed to demonstrate how his rights had been abused, besides his failure also to disclose any reasonable cause of action.
It said the applicant also failed to provide evidence to justify the sustainability of the suit aside pre-empting the outcome of the award of the contract.
Lawyers for Mr Djan, a Tema-based clearing agent, on July 10, 2015, filed the suit and an application for interlocutory injunction and prayed the court to place an injunction on the Minister of Trade and Industry, the Minister of Finance, the Commissioner-General of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice and their agents from engaging West Blue Company Limited as the sole company for the implementation of the project.
Mr Djan claimed that he and others would be denied the opportunity to bid for the contract if the government went ahead to sole source it.
He had contended that the government discriminated and abused his rights and that of others by not publicising the bid process for the public to apply.
But the Attorney-General’s office filed an application which sought to strike out the suit on the grounds that Mr Djan lacked capacity as well as failed to disclose a reasonable cause of action.
Court Ruling
Delivering the decision of the court in Accra, the presiding judge, Mr Justice Anthony Yeboah, in response to Mr Djan’s claim that the government had failed to give reasons for settling on sole sourcing, said the government was not obliged to cite reasons for such actions.
 Justice Yeboah also held that the suit was pre-emptive because a purported letter from the Office of the President which directed the Ministry of Finance to engage West Blue Ghana Limited was not a binding decision from the Board of the Public Procurement Authority (PPA).
The court said the applicant had failed to demonstrate that the Board of the PPA had indeed awarded the contract to West Blue Ghana Limited and in the process discriminated against potential bidders.
“In the absence of a decision by the Public Procurement Authority Board – it is premature to say the contract was awarded. There is no evidence on the steps taken for the sole sourcing,” the court held.
Capacity and Jurisdiction
The state had challenged Mr Djan’s capacity to institute the suit but the court disagreed and ruled that Mr Djan was a Ghanaian citizen who had the right to bring such suits on either his behalf or that of Ghanaians, especially when the matter was of public interest.
The court submitted that the applicant was a human being who had the right to either bid or negotiate for the project particularly when he was an employee of a company that had the capacity to bid.
Another issue determined by the court was a challenge to its jurisdiction. On that score, the court held there were decided cases to clearly prove it had capacity to dispose of the matter.
Counsel for the applicant, Paa Kwesi Abaidoo, said he would decide whether or not to appeal after receiving a copy of the court’s decision.

I wanted to kill President - Man confesses and gets 10 years in jail

 
A 36-year-old man yesterday confessed he had the intent to kill President John Dramani Mahama following which he was slapped with a 10-year jail term by the Accra Circuit Court.

The convict, Charles Antwi, admitted he wanted to kill the President because he was fed up with the frequent power outages and the poor management of the economy.
According to him, he had, prior to the demise of Prof. John Evans Mills, wanted to be President, but was unlucky when President Mahama was rather sworn in as Head of State.
Antwi, who spoke Twi, was arrested on Sunday, July 26, 2015 at the Ringway Gospel Centre branch of the Assemblies of God Church where the President and his family worship regularly.
According to Antwi, he had gone to the church to kill the President but, unfortunately, the President was not in church that day.
In his confession, the convict said he was fed up with the “dumsor” situation and the harsh economic conditions in the country.
Antwi, who wore a white shirt and sported a beard, mostly avoided eye contact with the trial judge during the hearing.

Libya trip

The convict spoke of how he had visited countries such as France, Morocco and Libya and also specified that he had returned from Libya before attempting the assassination of the President.
He said he felt cheated by President Mahama following the death of Prof. Mills because he believed he (Antwi) should have been the President.
He told the court that the day he was picked up was the fourth time he had gone to the church to launch his attack.
Antwi said the President had not gone to church on those three other occasions and explained that the day he had no gun was the single occasion that the President showed up in church.
Asked how he got to know where President Mahama worshipped, the convict said a soldier on duty at the former seat of government, the Castle, had told him.
He conceded he did not have legal permit to possess the gun but was emphatic in stating that he had gone to the church to kill the President.

I do not smoke

When asked by the trial judge whether he smoked, Antwi said in twi, “I don’t smoke but I drink”, and emphasised his confession.
The speed with which the convict confessed to his crime prompted the judge to inquire from the investigator if he (Antwi) was mentally stable.
But the trial judge had a change of mind immediately the convict confessed to visiting the President’s church four times in his bid to kill him.
Antwi conceded that it was true the gun and two rounds of ammunition were found on him and also admitted he should have registered the gun, but stated there was no need for him to register it because he intended to use it to commit murder.
At that point, the court entered a ‘guilty’ plea for the convict, who had earlier pleaded not guilty with explanation.
Antwi showed no sign of remorse upon his conviction but rather asked how he was going to kill the President following his conviction.

By court

The presiding judge held that people such as Antwi must be kept away from citizens for a long time and expressed regret at the fact that the maximum sentence for such crimes was 10 years under the law.
The court held that “if the accused person had succeeded in killing the President, there would have been chaos, anarchy and confusion in the country. The accused person deserves no mercy”.
According to the court, the convict’s confession was a clear indication that he had a premeditated plan to kill the President.
Mr Justice Francis Obiri, who is a High Court judge with additional responsibility as a Circuit Court judge, said it was the duty of all Ghanaians to protect the President.
He charged the security agencies to beef up security around the President and all the places he frequented.
He also ordered that the gun, which was sent to court as an exhibit, must be destroyed in the presence of the police and the registrar of the court.
Prior to his conviction, the convict had informed the court that he was not married and was not responsible for the upkeep of his parents, although both of them were alive.
He claimed ownership of the gun and said he had bought it from a Burkinabe friend at Nkoranza in the Brong Ahafo Region.
Deputy Superintendent of Police Mr A. A. Annor had prayed the court for a remand warrant for investigations to continue, but the convict’s confession brought proceedings to an end at a single sitting.

Court to rule on West Blue case on Friday

 
The Human Rights Division of the High Court will, on Friday, July 31, 2015, decide whether or not to entertain a suit challenging the government’s engagement of West Blue Ghana Limited for the implementation of the Single Window and Risk Management System project at the country’s ports.

A Tema-based clearing agent, Mr Michael Kweku Djan, is praying the court to place an injunction on the Minister of Trade and Industry, the Minister of Finance, the Commissioner-General of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice and their agents from solely engaging West Blue in the National Single Window project until the final determination of a suit challenging the engagement of the company.
With the establishment of the National Single Window, all shipment activities and transit-related businesses will be integrated to achieve efficiency and enable the government to generate more revenue at the ports.
The dispute stems from a letter purported to have been written by the Chief of Staff directing the Minister of Finance to engage only West Blue to implement the National Single Window project.
According to the applicant, the move by the government to do sole sourcing was unfair, unjust and unreasonable because that had blocked him and other agents from having equal opportunity to apply.
But a motion for an order striking out Mr Djan’s application was filed by the Deputy Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Dr Dominic Akuritinga Ayine, on the grounds that the applicant had failed to demonstrate how his rights had been abused.
Counsel for the applicant, Mr Francis Paa Kwasi Abaidoo, advanced oral arguments against the state’s application in Accra yesterday.

Grounds

One of the ground’s of the A-G’s motion was that Mr Djan had wrongly invoked the exclusive jurisdiction of the court to enforce human rights under Article 33 of the 1992 Constitution “because, on the totality of evidence filed by the applicant, there was no showing that there had been, or was likely to be, a contravention of any provision of the Constitution on fundamental rights and freedoms in relation to the applicant”.
The A-G’s office is arguing that the exclusive human rights jurisdiction of the court could be triggered only when the allegation of breach or possible breach of a right specified under the Constitution is supported by evidence.
“This honourable court cannot entertain vacuous claims of so-called human rights violation such as that of the applicant,” it said.
According to the A-G, the burden of producing evidence in support of a claim of contravention of a right lies on the applicant; otherwise, the court may be faced with a situation where an applicant merely makes the allegation of breach and leaves it to the court to look into whether the allegation is well founded.
Another issue being raised by the A-G is that the suit, taken as a whole, discloses no reasonable cause of action and must, therefore, be dismissed.

Lawyer opposes

Opposing the state’s application, Mr Abaidoo argued that the respondents did not give his client equal opportunity to bid for the contract and had thus violated his client’s economic right.
He said the government also failed to ascribe the reason for the award of the contract to West Blue.
According to him, the criteria for selecting West Blue were not made known and for that reason the process was discriminatory.
The court was presided over by Mr Justice Anthony Yeboah.

The Human Rights Division of the High Court will, on Friday, July 31, 2015, decide whether or not to entertain a suit challenging the government’s engagement of West Blue Ghana Limited for the implementation of the Single Window and Risk Management System project at the country’s ports.

A Tema-based clearing agent, Mr Michael Kweku Djan, is praying the court to place an injunction on the Minister of Trade and Industry, the Minister of Finance, the Commissioner-General of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice and their agents from solely engaging West Blue in the National Single Window project until the final determination of a suit challenging the engagement of the company.
With the establishment of the National Single Window, all shipment activities and transit-related businesses will be integrated to achieve efficiency and enable the government to generate more revenue at the ports.
The dispute stems from a letter purported to have been written by the Chief of Staff directing the Minister of Finance to engage only West Blue to implement the National Single Window project.
According to the applicant, the move by the government to do sole sourcing was unfair, unjust and unreasonable because that had blocked him and other agents from having equal opportunity to apply.
But a motion for an order striking out Mr Djan’s application was filed by the Deputy Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Dr Dominic Akuritinga Ayine, on the grounds that the applicant had failed to demonstrate how his rights had been abused.
Counsel for the applicant, Mr Francis Paa Kwasi Abaidoo, advanced oral arguments against the state’s application in Accra yesterday.

Grounds

One of the ground’s of the A-G’s motion was that Mr Djan had wrongly invoked the exclusive jurisdiction of the court to enforce human rights under Article 33 of the 1992 Constitution “because, on the totality of evidence filed by the applicant, there was no showing that there had been, or was likely to be, a contravention of any provision of the Constitution on fundamental rights and freedoms in relation to the applicant”.
The A-G’s office is arguing that the exclusive human rights jurisdiction of the court could be triggered only when the allegation of breach or possible breach of a right specified under the Constitution is supported by evidence.
“This honourable court cannot entertain vacuous claims of so-called human rights violation such as that of the applicant,” it said.
According to the A-G, the burden of producing evidence in support of a claim of contravention of a right lies on the applicant; otherwise, the court may be faced with a situation where an applicant merely makes the allegation of breach and leaves it to the court to look into whether the allegation is well founded.
Another issue being raised by the A-G is that the suit, taken as a whole, discloses no reasonable cause of action and must, therefore, be dismissed.

Lawyer opposes

Opposing the state’s application, Mr Abaidoo argued that the respondents did not give his client equal opportunity to bid for the contract and had thus violated his client’s economic right.
He said the government also failed to ascribe the reason for the award of the contract to West Blue.
According to him, the criteria for selecting West Blue were not made known and for that reason the process was discriminatory.
The court was presided over by Mr Justice Anthony Yeboah.

The Human Rights Division of the High Court will, on Friday, July 31, 2015, decide whether or not to entertain a suit challenging the government’s engagement of West Blue Ghana Limited for the implementation of the Single Window and Risk Management System project at the country’s ports.

A Tema-based clearing agent, Mr Michael Kweku Djan, is praying the court to place an injunction on the Minister of Trade and Industry, the Minister of Finance, the Commissioner-General of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice and their agents from solely engaging West Blue in the National Single Window project until the final determination of a suit challenging the engagement of the company.
With the establishment of the National Single Window, all shipment activities and transit-related businesses will be integrated to achieve efficiency and enable the government to generate more revenue at the ports.
The dispute stems from a letter purported to have been written by the Chief of Staff directing the Minister of Finance to engage only West Blue to implement the National Single Window project.
According to the applicant, the move by the government to do sole sourcing was unfair, unjust and unreasonable because that had blocked him and other agents from having equal opportunity to apply.
But a motion for an order striking out Mr Djan’s application was filed by the Deputy Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Dr Dominic Akuritinga Ayine, on the grounds that the applicant had failed to demonstrate how his rights had been abused.
Counsel for the applicant, Mr Francis Paa Kwasi Abaidoo, advanced oral arguments against the state’s application in Accra yesterday.

Grounds

One of the ground’s of the A-G’s motion was that Mr Djan had wrongly invoked the exclusive jurisdiction of the court to enforce human rights under Article 33 of the 1992 Constitution “because, on the totality of evidence filed by the applicant, there was no showing that there had been, or was likely to be, a contravention of any provision of the Constitution on fundamental rights and freedoms in relation to the applicant”.
The A-G’s office is arguing that the exclusive human rights jurisdiction of the court could be triggered only when the allegation of breach or possible breach of a right specified under the Constitution is supported by evidence.
“This honourable court cannot entertain vacuous claims of so-called human rights violation such as that of the applicant,” it said.
According to the A-G, the burden of producing evidence in support of a claim of contravention of a right lies on the applicant; otherwise, the court may be faced with a situation where an applicant merely makes the allegation of breach and leaves it to the court to look into whether the allegation is well founded.
Another issue being raised by the A-G is that the suit, taken as a whole, discloses no reasonable cause of action and must, therefore, be dismissed.

Lawyer opposes

Opposing the state’s application, Mr Abaidoo argued that the respondents did not give his client equal opportunity to bid for the contract and had thus violated his client’s economic right.
He said the government also failed to ascribe the reason for the award of the contract to West Blue.
According to him, the criteria for selecting West Blue were not made known and for that reason the process was discriminatory.
The court was presided over by Mr Justice Anthony Yeboah.

Govt challenges jurisdiction of court hearing West Blue case

The government is challenging the jurisdiction of the Human Rights Court hearing the suit contesting the engagement of West Blue Ghana Limited for the implementation of the Single Window and Risk Management System Project at the country’s ports.

A Tema-based clearing agent, Mr Michael Kweku Djan, is praying the Human Rights Division of the High Court to place an injunction on the Minister of Trade and Industry, the Minister of Finance, the Commissioner-General of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice and their agents from solely engaging West Blue Ghana Limited in the national single window project until the final determination of a suit challenging the engagement of the company.
With the establishment of the National Single Window, all shipment activities and transit-related businesses will be integrated to achieve efficiency and enable the government to generate more revenue at the ports.
The dispute stems from a letter purported to have been written by the Chief of Staff directing the Minister of Finance to engage only West Blue to implement the National Single Window project.
According to the applicant, the move by the government to do sole sourcing was unfair, unjust and unreasonable because that had blocked him and other agents from having equal opportunity to apply.
But a motion for an order striking out Mr Djan’s application for enforcement of his fundamental human rights has been filed and it is expected to be moved by the Deputy Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Dr Dominic Akuritinga Ayine, at the court’s sitting in Accra today.

Grounds for A-G’s motion

One of the ground’s of the A-G’s motion is that Mr Djan had wrongly invoked the exclusive jurisdiction of the court to enforce human rights under Article 33 of the 1992 Constitution “because, on the totality of evidence filed by the applicant, there was no showing that there had been, or was likely to be, a contravention of any provision of the Constitution on fundamental rights and freedoms in relation to the applicant”.
The A-G’s office is arguing that the exclusive human rights jurisdiction of the court could be triggered only when the allegation of breach or possible breach of a right specified under the Constitution is supported by evidence.
“This Honourable Court cannot entertain vacuous claims of so-called human rights violation such as that of the applicant.
The burden of producing evidence in support of a claim of contravention of a right lies on the applicant; otherwise, the court may be faced with a situation where an applicant merely makes the allegation of breach and leaves it to the court to look into whether the allegation is well founded,” the motion notes.
Another issue being raised by the A-G is that the suit, taken as a whole, discloses no reasonable cause of action.
“Lastly, the respondents would contend that, granted that any breach of the Constitution is made out, the applicant lacks the capacity to bring the action because such breach is not in relation to the applicant so as to enable him to institute the present action,” the motion seeking to strike out Mr Djan’s suit argues.
The A-G is, therefore, praying the court to strike out the suit altogether for want of jurisdiction, adding, “Furthermore and in the alternative, the respondents will seek a dismissal of the application for injunction.”

According to the A-G, Mr Djan has wrongly invoked the jurisdiction of the court “by failing to demonstrate that there has been or there is likely to be a contravention of his fundamental right to freedom from discrimination and to work and equal opportunity”.

Urgency of the situation

Another argument canvassed by the A-G is that Mr Djan has also misunderstood the nature and scope of the right to work and to equal opportunity at the workplace.
“The respondents are not the employers of the applicant who, on his own deposition, is gainfully employed as a shipping agent. The respondents have in no way infringed on his rights as a shipping agent and the contract awarded to West Blue will not impact on his employment.
“His aspirations for bigger business opportunities are not exclusively dependent on the award of this contract,” the motion argues.
It says Mr Djan’s application does not disclose any reasonable cause of action and that the allegation of non-compliance with the Public Procurement Act has been shown to be totally unfounded.
Explaining why the government opted for sole sourcing, the A-G’s motion says “the urgency of the situation requires that government should act with expedition. Moreover, the nature of the project, which is based on the use of software, makes the use of competitive tender unsuitable”.

Man with gun in Prez’s church for court today

The 36-year-old man who was arrested for wielding a loaded and cocked pistol in a church building will be put before court today.

Charles Antwi was picked up at the Ringway Gospel Centre branch of the Assemblies of God Church in Accra and is currently being detained by the National Security Secretariat.
National Security sources told the Daily Graphic that investigations were ongoing to establish Antwi’s motive, as well as how he got access to the weapon.
“Although we are still investigating, we intend to arraign him in order not to violate the rules which require us not to hold persons beyond 48 hours without a court warrant,” the source said.
“We are investigating the matter to establish the suspect’s motive for sending a loaded and cocked pistol to a packed church usually attended by the President and the Chief Justice of the Republic of Ghana,” it said

Background

Antwi was apprehended when a member of the congregation noticed his nervous and suspicious behaviour during the church service last Sunday.
According to the security source, a policeman and a member of the church escorted Antwi outside.
The loaded and cocked pistol was found following a search on him.
It was not immediately clear why he had carried the fully loaded gun into the church.
President John Dramani Mahama and his family worship regularly at the Ringway Gospel Centre but were not present in church last Sunday.

CICTA sues National Accreditation Board

The Chartered Institute of Certified Tax Accountants (CICTA) has commenced an action at the Human Rights Division of the High Court to challenge the decision of the National Accreditation Board (NAB) to blacklist the institute from the list of professional bodies in the country.

According to CICTA, the posturing of the NAB, to the effect that acquiring a certificate from CICTA would be tantamount to a waste of time and resources, was “false and dubious”.
Joined to the suit are the Chartered Institute of Accountants, Ghana and the Attorney General.
The CICTA contends further that the Chartered Institute of Accountants does not have the authority to act as the regulator of any professional body or institution, including that of the applicant.

Advertisement

The NAB and the Chartered Institute of Accountants, Ghana jointly ran newspaper advertisements between July 7 and 11, 2015, with the headline: ‘Public Notice — Unaccredited Institutions’, which warned prospective students, employers and the public that CICTA did not have the legal mandate to award any academic or professional qualifications that might be accepted for purposes of academic, professional placements and progression.
In the said public notices, the NAB and the Chartered Institute of Accountants, Ghana claimed to be the only bodies accredited to give mandate for the running of accounting programmes and/or profession, respectively, in Ghana.

Suit

A motion on notice for the enforcement of the fundamental human rights of CICTA filed on its behalf by its lawyer, Mr Egbert Faibille Jnr. said the Chartered Institute of Accountants did not have the authority to act as the regulator of any professional body or institution, including that of the applicant.
Among others, it is praying the court to declare that by reason of Section 1 of the Professional Bodies Registration Act, 1973, NRCD 143, the applicant is a professional body set up by an act of Parliament.
It is in addition praying the court to hold that there is no law that requires the applicant to be granted a Presidential Charter to operate.

General damages

The applicant is seeking “an order directed at the respondents to buy space in the Daily Graphic, the Ghanaian Times, the Graphic Business, The Spectator and all other media outlets that published the defamatory publications of and about applicant retracting and apologising to applicant for the publications made of and about applicant, which have become the subject matter of this suit, within a stipulated number of days after the judgement of this Honourable Court”.
Costs and other reliefs the court might deem fit are also being sought for by the applicant.

Affidavit in support

In an affidavit in support of the motion, CICTA averred that it was a recognised professional body registered by the Registrar of Professional Bodies of the Republic of Ghana on July 12, 2012.
It deposed that CICTA had met all legal requirements, including Gazette notification, before enrolling students.
According to the affidavit, CICTA lost credibility as a result of the publications, as its students withdrew from its courses and programmes, adding that its economic right to operate and make money for its programmes was affected as a result of the publications.

Jealousy

It said all the newspapers in which the NAB and the Chartered Institute of Accountants, Ghana put out the defamatory public notices were national newspapers with wide readership locally and internationally, as well as permanent presence on the world wide web, otherwise known as the Internet.
“That the applicant contends that the said publications are defamatory of it and have caused it to lose members, as well as potential members, and that further to that the damage done to its reputation cannot be repaired easily.
“That the only reason why 2nd Respondent joined up with 1st Respondent to publish the media adverts of and about applicant is because 2nd Respondent acted out of professional jealousy and fear of the dynamic strides being made by applicant in the accounting-tax professions,” it said.

Sale of SIC assets on hold

Moves by a private company to auction the assets of Ghana’s biggest insurance company, State Insurance Company (SIC), have been put on hold until October 19, 2015.

The Commercial Court in Accra will, on October 19, 2015, decide whether or not to allow the attachment and subsequent sale of SIC’s assets by Ivory Finance Company Limited.
At the court’s hearing in Accra yesterday, the presiding judge, Mr Justice George Koomson, gave lawyers from both sides 10 days each to file their written submissions.
He then fixed October 19, 2015 to deliver the court’s decision on the attachment or otherwise of SIC’s assets for auction.
The effect is that Ivory Finance cannot continue executing a court order to auction SIC’s assets, while SIC is barred from selling or touching assets so far attached by Ivory Finance until the determination of the case by the court.
Ivory Finance this month began attaching vehicles and buildings belonging to SIC for auction, following SIC’s inability to settle a GH₵232 million plus debt owed Ivory Finance.
The two companies are currently engaged in a legal tussle over the GH₵232 million debt emanating from penalties and interests which accumulated on a GH₵19.3 million facility SIC guaranteed for a private company, ITAL Construct International Limited.
The attachment of SIC’s assets began on Wednesday, July 8, 2015, following a court order giving Ivory Finance the go ahead to retrieve the money.
ITAL Construct International Limited, Mr Kwesi Baidoo and Mr James Kwegyir Aggrey, both directors of the construction company, are the other defendants in the case.
The SIC served as a guarantor for ITAL Construct, after the company contracted a loan of GH₵19.3 million from Ivory Finance on April 10, 2013.
Interests and other penal charges stood at GH₵232 million as of June 2015.

Assets

The lawyer for Ivory Finance, Mr Richard D. Amofa, has filed a list of assets belonging to SIC and the construction company for auction.
In its bid to stop the attachment of its properties for auction, lawyers for SIC filed an application for an order to suspend enforcement of the consent judgement, which was entered by the court after the parties had signed the terms of settlement.
The SIC is asking for a suspension until the final determination of an appeal against the Commercial Court’s decision to sanction the retrieval of the amount from SIC.
According to the SIC, it would suffer “untold hardship” if Ivory Finance was permitted to recover the judgement debt, “as third-party interests would have set in and the decision in the pending appeal would be rendered a nugatory if successful”.

Background

The parties in the substantive case at the Commercial Court on November 24, 2014 entered terms of settlement after Ivory Finance had, on November 21, 2013, issued a writ against the defendants to claim GHc19.3 million, with interest and penalties, until the final date of payment.
Signatories to the terms of settlement were a former Managing Director of SIC, Mrs Doris Awo Nkani; Mr Emmanuel Adu-Sarkodee, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Ivory Finance, and Mr Baidoo, who initialled on his behalf and that of ITAL Construct and Mr Aggrey.
Despite the terms of settlement, which were entered and adopted by the Commercial Court on November 27, 2014, the defendants failed to fully meet their debt obligations.
The SIC later paid GHc19.3 million per the court’s orders in January 2015 but has since not settled its interest and penalties which keep accumulating.
As a result of ITAL Construct’s failure to fully settle its debt, Ivory Finance filed the necessary legal documents to recover the interest from SIC, which had served as the guarantor for the credit facility.

Korle Bu CEO, Board Chair apologise to court; Withdraw dismissal letter

 
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital and two others have purged themselves of contempt charges by withdrawing a letter terminating the appointment of the hospital’s head of accounting.

The interdicted Director of the Pharmacy Department of the hospital, Mrs Elizabeth Bruce, filed the contempt proceedings at the Human Rights Court against the CEO, Dr Gilbert Buckle; the Chairman of the Korle Bu board, Prof. Anthony Mawuli Sallar, and the hospital as an entity following the issuance of a letter terminating her appointment at a time she was contesting her interdiction in court.
Rendering an unqualified apology on behalf of his clients, counsel for the respondents, Mr King Hussein, informed the court that his clients did not intend to disrespect or bring the authority of the court into disrepute.
He, accordingly, prayed the court to take into consideration the decision by the respondents to withdraw Mrs Bruce’s termination letter.
Counsel for Mrs Bruce, Mr Godfred Yeboah Dame, said he was taken aback by the turn of events in court yesterday because he had received an affidavit in opposition to his contempt application a day before.
Nonetheless, he accepted the turn of events.
The contemnors and Mrs Bruce were all present in court.
The effect of yesterday’s development is that the substantive case will take its normal course.
It has been fixed for July 30, 2015 for hearing.

Discharge

Based on the foregoing, Mr Justice Kofi Essel-Mensah, the presiding judge, discharged the respondents and awarded costs of GHc2,000 in favour of Mrs Bruce.
King Hussein had earlier informed the court at its sitting in Accra yesterday that although Mrs Bruce had not been formally handed a letter of termination, his clients had withdrawn it.
Thus the status quo had been restored and that Mrs Bruce remained a member of staff of the hospital but was currently on interdiction pending the outcome of investigations into alleged financial malfeasance at the Pharmacy Department.

Background

Mrs Bruce, in April 2015, took legal action after she was interdicted in January 2015 for allegedly misappropriating funds at the Pharmacy Department.
The court was yet to hear the matter after the hospital had filed its defence when the respondents proceeded to dismiss her in June 2015, resulting in the filing of the contempt application.
The court, on July 8, 2015, advised parties in the case to attempt settlement.
An affidavit in support of the motion averred that following an unlawful “forensic audit” exercise by a private firm of chartered accountants pursuant to an unlawful appointment by the Minister of Health, she was unlawfully interdicted on January 29, 2015 by the respondents, without recourse to the mandatory provisions of the Ghana Health Service and Teaching Hospitals Act, 1996 (Act 525) and the Civil Service Regulations, 1960 (L.I. 47).
It noted that after her interdiction, an Administrative Enquiry Committee was unlawfully set up by the respondents to establish her culpability, if any, in the findings of the forensic audit exercise.
It said on April 10, 2015, the applicant instituted a civil action for a number of reliefs, which included an order for her reinstatement.
According to the affidavit, the respondents were fully aware of the pendency of the suit but nevertheless proceeded to dismiss her through the issuance of a press release dated June 17, 2015.
It said the wilful disregard of the authority of the court by Prof. Sallar and Dr Buckle made them inexcusably liable to be committed to prison and a hefty fine ought to be imposed on the hospital in order to vindicate the undoubted authority of the court.
The contemnors have since been discharged following the withdrawal of their decision to dismiss Mrs Bruce.

We cannot stabilise Cedi - Supreme Court declines jurisdiction

Dr John Ephraim Baiden, plaintiff, leaving the court after judgement. PICTURE: MAXWELL OCLOO

A writ invoking the original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court to order the Bank of Ghana (BoG) to put in measures to provide a stable currency has been dismissed.

In a unanimous decision, the court held that it lacked the jurisdiction and competence to pronounce on the matter.
A legal practitioner, Dr John Ephraim Baiden, filed the suit in March 2014, asking the court to issue an order of mandamus on the BoG or its governor and the board of directors to provide a stable currency and a change from a floating exchange regime to a fixed regime or a reasonable adjustable peg regime.
He also urged the court to order the BoG to abrogate the present dual exchange rate or multiple exchange rate system to a single exchange rate system.
Dr Baiden further prayed the court to direct the BoG to provide Ghana with a 1:1 or nearer relationship with the leading global reserve currency, as occurred in 2007.

Preliminary objection upheld

But the Attorney-General’s office and the BoG, who were the respondents in the case, filed separate motions challenging the locus of the court to pronounce on the subject matter.
According to the defendants, the Supreme Court was not the forum for monetary issues to be determined.
Granting the prayer of the respondents to dismiss the suit, the court, presided over by Mrs Justice Sophia Adinyira, held that “this issue does not require constitutional interpretation. This is not a proper forum for plaintiff to ventilate his frustration”.
“The preliminary objection is upheld and the plaintiff’s action is dismissed,” the court concluded in response to Dr Baiden’s claim he had lost substantial wealth as a result of the more than 130 per cent depreciation of the cedi since 2007.

Stable currency

Touching on the plaintiff’s call on the court to order for a fixed rate to stabilise the cedi, the court said the Supreme Court was not the best forum to determine a stable currency for Ghana.
“The court does not have the institutional competence to direct the Bank of Ghana to stabilise the currency,” it added.

Obiter

In a comment, the court was of the view that the effect of inflation was a global issue and cited Germany and the United States (US) as some of the countries facing those challenges.
It said the economy would thrive if: money was kept in banks, agriculture was promoted to reduce the importation of food and Ghanaians bought made-in-Ghana goods.
It urged Ghanaians to eschew mediocrity and work hard to increase productivity.
It expressed its excitement over the appreciation of the cedi and prayed it remained so.
Speaking to journalists after the court’s judgement, Dr Baiden expressed disappointment but indicated he would not file for a review.

Background

Dr Baiden, in his statement of case, urged the court to give orders aimed at ensuring that Ghanaians regained their “monetary sovereignty”.
According to the plaintiff, the BoG was enjoined by the 1992 Constitution and the Bank of Ghana Act to maintain a stable currency for the benefit of Ghanaians and businesses.
Among the reliefs sought by the applicant was an order for perpetual injunction directing the BoG to refrain from deferring to a floating exchange rate regime in the conduct of its monetary policy.
He also prayed for a declaration that upon a true and proper interpretation of Article 183 (2) (a) of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana and the Bank of Ghana Act, 2002, Section 4 (b), the BoG had neither promoted nor maintained a stable currency for the Republic of Ghana.
Article 183 (2) (a) of the 1992 Constitution provides: “The Bank of Ghana shall promote and maintain the stability of the currency of Ghana and direct and regulate the currency system in the interest of the economic progress of Ghana.”
Dr Baiden was of the view the BoG knew it lacked the requisite reserves or exchange rate stabilisation fund to effectively intervene to give the cedi a stable value on the currency market.

Public interest action

Justifying his suit in a statement of case, he said he had brought the action in the interest of the public, pursuant to articles 2 and 130 of the 1992 Constitution.
While imploring the court to direct the BoG to operate a fixed exchange rate regime, which he said was being practised by more than 60 countries, the plaintiff said East Timor, Ecuador, El-Salvador, Panama, British Virgin Islands, the Caribbean Netherlands, Palau, among other nations, had adopted the US dollar as their local currency.
That regime, he explained, would provide a greater amount of certainty for importers and exporters and thereby maintain a stable currency within and outside Ghana for the economic progress of the country.

Stop Bank of Ghana

Dr Baiden had argued that unless the court stopped it, the BoG would continue “to utilise its unworkable monetary measures”.
According to him, the BoG was clearly out of its mandate and must, therefore, be whipped back in line.

Preliminary objection

The motion on notice for preliminary objection filed by the BoG had argued that the action had been wrongly commenced at the Supreme Court on the grounds that “the complaint of plaintiff is basically to the effect that second defendant has caused a depreciation in the value of the Ghanaian currency but deliberately couched as an application for interpretation of the Constitution in order to bring the action within the ambit of articles 2 (1) and 130 of the Constitution”.
“That the Supreme Court, in the exercise of its original jurisdiction, is not the proper forum for the interpretation of an Act of Parliament and it is, therefore, wrongful for plaintiff to have invoked articles 2 (1) and 130 to seek interpretation of Section 4 (b) of the Bank of Ghana Act, Act 612 in the Supreme Court,” the motion concluded.
The court finally upheld the respondents’ position and, accordingly, threw out the writ.

Labour Commission has no locus — State attorneys

State attorneys have refused to call off their week-long nationwide strike.

They insist the National Labour Commission (NLC) has no locus under the present circumstance to direct them to end the strike because the NLC has failed to adhere to rules set out in the Labour Act of 2003.
“They have no power to tell us to call off our strike because they have not complied with their own laws. They should comply with their own rules and laws and we will comply with their directive,” the President of the Association of State Attorneys, Ms Francisca Tete
Mensah, said in reaction to media reports that the NLC had directed the attorneys to resume work.
Reacting in an interview with the Daily Graphic, Ms Tete-Mensah said the association had not received any official notification urging its members to end the strike.
According to her, there were procedures to be followed in labour disputes and said the association duly notified the NLC before embarking on the strike.
State attorneys, on Tuesday, July 7, 2015, began an indefinite nationwide strike until their demands for unpaid allowances and improved conditions of service were met.

Procedures

According to Ms Tete-Mensah, the strike was legal and that the NLC had powers to order for compulsory arbitration after setting out issues to be resolved.
“The NLC is expected to set out issues for compulsory arbitration between the parties, as well as appoint three arbitrators to look into the issues, but is yet to do this,” she said.
She said the association took the Minister of Finance and the Attorney-General to the NLC in November 2014 and had since then sent five letters to make enquiries, but none of the letters had been responded to.
She indicated that fuel allowance for three out of six months had been paid to members of the association.
She also said 10 computers had been handed over to prosecutors at the Criminal Division of the Attorney-General’s Department but could not state the exact number that had been sent to the regions.

Strike

The action by the state attorneys, numbering 151, has resulted in the adjournment of cases involving them.
Only criminal cases being prosecuted by the police are being heard by the courts.
The situation is not different at the Registrar-General’s Department, the Attorney-General’s Department, the Economic and Organised
Crime Office (EOCO), the Land Title Registry, the Council for Law Reporting, the Copyright Office and Legal Aid and other departments and agencies where the services of state attorneys are required.

Demands

The striking state attorneys are demanding the harmonisation of their salaries and benefits with those of judges at the lower courts with effect from 2012.
The next issue, according to the state attorneys, was the non-payment of their fuel allowances for the past six months.
Clothing and leave allowances for state attorneys, according to Ms Tete-Mensah, had also not been released by the government for the past seven months.

Pension scheme

The striking state lawyers are also demanding to be placed under the SSNIT pension scheme. According to them, that should have happened since January 2015 .
The striking attorneys are also demanding protection in their offices and at the courts, since they could easily be targeted and attacked by people they prosecuted.

CDH finance Holdings boss accuses EOCO of harassment

The Group Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of CDH Finance Holdings Company Limited and the acting Chief Executive Officer of the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) are in a tussle over the retrieval of moneys owed the company by the State Insurance Company (SIC) Limited.

While the Group CEO of CDH Finance Holdings Limited, Mr Emmanuel Adu-Sarkodee, has accused EOCO of using the state apparatus to harass him, the acting Executive Director of EOCO, Mr Justice Tsar, has denied the claim.
According to Mr Adu-Sarkodee ever since CDH began executing a court order to retrieve moneys owed the company by SIC Limited, he had had no peace.
“I have since February 2015 been invited four times by the EOCO for long hours of interrogation. I was even set on a bail bond of GH¢300 million for no wrong,” Mr Adu-Sarkodee told the Daily Graphic in Accra.
He said EOCO usually struck each time his lawyers moved in to execute the court orders to retrieve moneys owed his company.
But reacting to the allegations, Mr Tsar said EOCO was conducting normal investigations, adding that the CDH boss had not been harassed in any way because whenever he came to the EOCO office, he was in the company of two lawyers.
Mr Tsar stated that there was no way Mr Adu-Sarkodee could be intimidated in the presence of his lawyers.

Legal tussle

SIC and one of Mr Adu-Sarkodee’s companies, Ivory Finance Company Limited, are currently engaged in a legal tussle over a GH¢232 million debt emanating from penalties and interests which accrued on a GH¢19.3 million facility SIC guaranteed for a private company, ITAL Construct International Limited.
Ivory Finance Company Limited began attaching SIC’s assets on Wednesday, July 8, 2015, following a court order given to it to go ahead to retrieve the money.
Mr Kwesi Baidoo and Mr James Kwegyir Aggrey, both directors of the real estate company, ITAL Construct International Limited, are the other defendants in the case.
SIC served as a guarantor for ITAL Construct International after the company contracted a loan facility of GH¢19.3 million from Ivory Finance Company Limited on April 10, 2013.
Interests and other penal charges stood at GH¢232 million as of June, 2015.

‘Stop the harassment’

Highlighting his difficulties to the Daily Graphic in an interview in Accra, Mr Adu-Sarkodee said, “I am being harassed unnecessarily. They have taken documents for my building for no reason and now they are telling me I cannot travel outside without their permission.
“What baffles me is I have not conducted business with any state institution to receive this kind of ill-treatment. My only sin is pursuing a debt owed by the SIC after it guaranteed a credit facility for ITAL Construct International Limited and the construction company in turn defaulted in the payment.
“Under the present circumstance, the mantle now fell on the guarantor, being SIC.”
He further explained that CDH had used the legal process to retrieve its money and could, therefore, not comprehend why the state apparatus was being used to harass him.
“This harassment must stop. We are in court and the EOCO must respect my rights as a law-abiding citizen doing my genuine business,” Mr Adu-Sarkodee said.

Background

The parties in the substantive case at the Commercial Court on November 24, 2014, entered terms of settlement after Ivory Finance Company Limited had, on November 21, 2013, issued a writ against the defendants to claim GH¢19.3 million with interest and penalties, until the final date of payment.
Signatories to the terms of settlement were a former Managing Director of SIC, Mrs Doris Awo Nkani; Mr Emmanuel Adu-Sarkodee, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Ivory Finance Company Limited, Mr Baidoo and Mr Aggrey, who initialled on behalf of ITAL Construct International Limited.
Despite the terms of settlement, which were entered and adopted by the Commercial Court on November 27, 2014, the defendants failed to fully meet their debt obligations.
The SIC later paid GH¢19.3 million per the court’s orders in January, 2015 but has since not settled its interest and penalties which keep accumulating.
Following from the failure of ITAL Construct International Limited to fully settle its debt, Ivory Finance Company Limited filed the necessary legal documents to recover the interest from SIC which had served as the guarantor for the credit facility.

Action

Lawyer for Ivory Finance Company Limited, Mr Richard D. Amofa, has filed a list of assets belonging to the SIC and the construction company for auction.
In its bid to stop the attachment of its properties for auction, lawyers for SIC have filed an application for an order to suspend enforcement of the consent judgement which was entered by the court after the parties had signed the terms of settlement.
SIC is asking for a suspension until the final determination of an appeal against the Commercial Court’s decision to sanction the retrieval of the amount from the SIC.
Hearing of the application has been fixed for July 23, 2015 at the Commercial Court in Accra.
Meanwhile, the Commercial Court has dismissed ITAL Construct International Limited’s application impugning fraud against Ivory Finance Company Limited.
According to the court, presided over by Mr Justice S. K. Asiedu, the construction company had pushed the concept of fraud “beyond its limit”.