Odoom's suit: Preliminary ruling Nov 11

Friday, November 6, 2009 (Page 3)

THE Accra Fast Track High Court will on Wednesday, November 11, 2009, decide whether or not to detach the name of the Head of Civil Service from a suit instituted by the interdicted Principal Accountant of the Ministry of Youth and Sports.
The plaintiff, Mr Adim Odoom, filed an application for Judicial Review against the Attorney-General and the Head of the Civil Service on the grounds that he had been unfairly treated after he had exposed Alhaji Muntaka Mubarak, then Minister of Youth and Sports of financial impropriety.
However, a State Attorney, Mr Elikpim Agbemava, moved a motion at the court’s sitting in Accra today praying the court to strike out the name of the Head of Civil Service on the grounds that the attachment of the name of the Head of Civil Service to the motion contravened Article 88 of the 1992 Constitution.
According to counsel, it was unnecessary harassment of the Head of Civil Service because the constitution stipulated that the Attorney-General was the rightful body to be sued on behalf of state institutions.
Opposing the application, counsel for Mr Odoom, Mr Godfred Yeboah Dame, said the contention was misconceived and borne out of narrow interpretation of the Constitution.
He said the Constitution and other Supreme Court authorities did not exempt state institutions from suits adding that if the State’s motion was anything to go by, it would then be wrong to sue the Inspector General of Police (IGP), the Chief Justice, the Commissioner of Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) among other public office holders.
The court, presided over by Mrs Justice Norvisi Aryene, fixed November 11, 2009 as the date for ruling on the motion.
Earlier, the court awarded GH¢500 cost against the Attorney-General’s Department for failing to seek leave of the court before filing an amended statement of case.
It, however, admitted the statement of case before awarding the cost against the respondent.
In the substantive matter, following Mr Odoom’s claims of financial impropriety against Alhaji Mubarak, the National Security instituted investigations into the allegations and it was recommended that Mr Odoom and the Chief Director of the ministry be interdicted.
Dissatisfied with the outcome of investigations and his subsequent interdiction, Mr Odoom, who describes himself as a whistleblower, who had been unfairly treated filed the application for judicial review challenging his interdiction.
He was interdicted alongside the Chief Director of the Ministry of Youth and Sports, Mr Albert Anthony Ampong, who is also seeking a declaration that an order directed at him (Mr Ampong) to refund $20,000 and a further order that sanctions must be applied against him are unlawful.
The Accra Fast High Court has since heard Mr Ampong's application and has fixed Friday, November 27, 2009 as the day to decide the lawfulness or otherwise of his interdiction.
Like Mr Ampong, Mr Odoom is seeking a declaration that the decision of the Head of the Civil Service to implement directives from the President was unlawful.
The applicant is further praying the court to quash the decision to interdict him on the grounds that due process had not been followed and, therefore, it was a violation of the relevant laws and disciplinary regulations of the Civil Service of Ghana.
He is additionally seeking an order prohibiting the respondents from imposing any disciplinary sanctions against him on the basis of the National Security report on investigations into allegations against Alhaji Mubarak, as well as praying the court to grant an order of mandamus to compel the Head of the Civil Service to allow him to resume his normal duties as the Chief Director of the ministry, among any other orders the court might deem fit.
According to the applicant, the respondents acted illegally, unreasonably, capriciously, arbitrarily and in an unfair manner.
An affidavit in support of his application stated that he had only been called as a witness before the committee instituted to investigate Alhaji Mubarak and not as an accused person.
Mr Odoom and Mr Ampong were ordered to proceed on leave on July 7, 2009.
The A-G’s office opposed the applicants’ application and said a five-member panel had been set up since July 10, 2009 to begin hearing the applicants’ case with the object of determining their guilt or otherwise but the panel had not begun sitting in view of the present court action.