Spouse killers not human beings - Bishop
“Fast track court”
saga – research and comparative analysis continued
University of Ghana hauled to court
Accra (Greater Accra) 14 March 2002 - The
authorities of the University of Ghana, Legon are feverishly moving heaven and
earth to stave off lurking danger over their much-publicised congregation
slated for this Saturday.
As at Wednesday evening, the authorities of
Legon were in a marathon meeting with the solicitors of aggrieved students to
strike a compromise that would ensure that they re-listed all the past students
whose names were mysteriously missing from the final list of the graduands to
be awarded with degrees during the forthcoming congregation.
Prof Ivan Addae-Mensah, Vice Chancellor of the
University of Ghana would not delve into the issue, saying it would be
prejudicial, since the students had already filed a writ in court, but he
assured the Chronicle that the problem was solvable. He also confirmed that the
authorities had been served with the writ, which was being handled by their
lawyers.
“I can tell you that by the close of the day,
the issue would have been resolved to avert any legal battle since a writ had
already been filed in court seeking an injunction to restrain us from holding
the congregation,” he said. Some past students of the university have filed a
writ at an Accra High Court, seeking an injunction to be placed on the event.
According to the complaining students, their
action stemmed from the fact that even though they undertook a Masters in
Business Administration (MBA) or Masters in Public Administration and were
supposed to be among the graduands, their names had been deleted from the final
list of those to be awarded degrees this Saturday.
The writ, which was filed on Monday, March 11,
by their solicitor, Mr Kweku Y. Paintsil, Esq., of Paintsil, Paintsil and Co.,
is praying the court to restrain the authorities of the University of Ghana
from organizing the congregation. The students are also seeking a declaration
by the court that the Academic Board (AB) of the University of Ghana is in
breach of its duty under section 39.2 of the Admission Requirements and
Regulations for Graduate Studies in that it failed without any justifiable
cause to approve their final results and thereby deprived them of the right of
being conferred with their post-graduate degrees at the impending congregation
of the university.
They further prayed for an order requiring the
Academic Board of the University of Ghana to meet to approve their results before
March 16, so they can be conferred with their post-graduate degrees at the
impending congregation. Again, plaintiffs want an injunction ordering or
directing the Universities of Ghana or its Registrar to extend the time within
which they shall apply for registration for the impending congregation of the
university.
In the statement of claim, the plaintiffs said
they formed a part of about 100 others who were properly admitted to the School
of Administration of the university to pursue post-graduate degrees. This
approved course, they added, they all pursued over the prescribed period.
According to them, they fulfilled both the university and the school’s
requirements for the award of the post-graduate degrees.
“By and under the university’s regulations, the
results of the plaintiffs ought and should have been put before the AB for
approval as a necessary condition for the conferment of the plaintiffs degrees
as a congregation of the University called for that purpose,” the statement
averred. They contended that even though they have satisfied all the conditions
necessary for so doing, the AB has failed to approve their results.
According to the students, in spite of all
this, the defendant is making very feverish attempts to call a congregation of
the university to recognize students who completed courses in 2001, “in
consequence of which it has put out the patently
misleading and false impression by way of
advertisements in the local media.”
The plaintiffs pointed out that the said
advertisements by the defendants indicated that all students who completed
courses in 2001 and are able to give out their names to the registrar to
indicate their intention of attending the congregation would be so honoured or
conferred with their degrees at the congregation.
According to the plaintiffs, even though they
are willing, able and desirous of communicating their names to the registrar,
it would avail them of nothing and indeed there is no chance of their being
conferred with their hard earned degrees, unless and until the AB has met and
approved their results in compliance with the university’s own regulations.
“However, the AB has refused, failed or
neglected to meet to approve of the results, which conduct is most
unreasonably, perverse and capricious,” the aggrieved students stated.
According to the students, sure that they will
be conferred with their degrees at the impending congregation they had
accordingly gone ahead to make various and diverse arrangements for the event
and would therefore, suffer very great embarrassment, shame and incalculable
harm, should the authorities go ahead with the impending congregation without
them. By Wednesday evening, it was not known whether the university has filed
its defence. – The Chronicle.
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
Bimbilla (Northern Region) 14 March 2002 - A
bloody clash ensured on Wednesday at Bimbilla between supporters of the
National Democratic Congress (NDC) and their New Patriotic Party (NPP)
opponents leaving at least 10 people from both parties seriously injured.
The fight started when about 500 NPP followers
clad in their party colours besieged the Bimbilla Secretariat of the NDC after
singing and drumming throughout the town. The NDC supporters who were then at
the secretariat minus their leaders were not happy with what seemed like a
political intimidation and their attempt to stop the NPP followers from
entering the secretariat resulted in the conflict.
Sticks and stones were flying everywhere as
both parties were determined to emerge victors. The Chronicle reporter was
accidentally, hit by a stick. A soldier who happened to be at the scene could
not do anything to escape being beaten but to resort to firing warning shots.
The soldier with the rank of a Corporal immediately called for reinforcement
and within five minutes a truck full of soldiers emerged on the scene.
The soldiers themselves had a hectic time
separating both factions because of their numerical disadvantage. They were
therefore, left with the only option of beating everybody around, thus
compelling all parties to flee. It was, however, surprising as four policemen who
were about 20 metres away from the scene at a communication centre conversing
did not attempt to intervene. Apparently, the police were afraid of their lives
and still stayed at the communication centre even after the soldiers had calmed
down the situation.
Meanwhile, the wounded victims are responding
to treatment at a health post. Tension was still at its peak, at the time of
filing this report, as fighting started in another part of the town. Currently,
followers of both the NPP and the NDC openly stone vehicles of political
opponents even in the full view of the security personnel. Stones and sticks
are flying everywhere and war songs chanted as well. The NDC youth called for
more support and a bus full of NDC youth arrived about 20 minutes after the
first clash. Chronicle learnt that they were from a nearby village.
In another development, the police in Bimbilla
have arrested members of the NDC students union for their attempt to incite
tribal conflict. According to Supt. Mohammed Abubakar Adams of Yendi, the
students were caught distributing documentary materials containing horrible
pictures of the 1994 bloody Nanumb-Konkomba war.
The materials have mainly pictures showing
Konkombas murdering Nanumba children and this, according to the police, was
calculated to incite the Nanumbas against the Konkombas and possibly fuel up
the already looming danger. The NDC is fielding a Nanumba native in the person
of Mohammed Ibn Abass while the NPP candidate, Nitiwul Dominic, is a Konkomba.
The four students have since been released
after their statements were taken with the materials seized. Supt Adams who is
the commanding officer in charge of a 241 police contingent detailed to
Bimbilla to ensure peace during the elections has stated that the police have prepared
adequately for the elections. “We will promote the maximum security,” he said.
He said no mob action would be tolerated as the police had adequately been
briefed on security measures. – The Chronicle.
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
Accra
(Greater Accra) 14 March 2002 - The Electoral Commission made adequate
preparations for Thursday’s bye-elections in the Bimbilla constituency in the
northern region. The election has become necessary as a result of the vacancy
created following the appointment of Dr Mohammed Ibn Chambas as the executive
secretary of ECOWAS.
Speaking to
“The Evening News” in Accra about the preparations, Mr Sarfo Kantanka, Deputy
Chairman of Electoral Commission in charge of operations, said all the needed
materials had been provided to ensure a smooth election. He said there would
not be any instance in which the commission would run short of ballots papers,
ink and other polling materials. “We know the number of registered voters in
the Bimbilla constituency and so, we do not expect shortage of any materials,”
he said.
The
constituency, he said is not heavily populated to outstretch the voting process
since people had acquired experience with regard to election procedure and
guidelines. “People now understand the voting procedures and this has made our
work more easier,” he stated.
On security
at polling centres, Mr Kantanka said adequate security would be provided to
help curb potential unrest, however, the ambience of political campaigning in
the constituency dispels any anxiety about ethnic tensions.”
He said 103
presiding officers had been purposely trained for the bye-election and two
policemen per polling station, in addition to 206 polling assistants spread
across the centres would in turn assist each. He urged the electorate to go out
to vote in their numbers, cautioning them however to comport themselves at the
polling centres. – The Evening News.
Send your
comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
Accra
(Greater Accra) 14 March 2002 - The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has
expressed dissatisfaction at the government’s nomination of Justice Kwame Afreh
for consideration for appointment to the Supreme Court at a material moment
when the government has vested interest.
A party
statement issued in Accra said the NDC believes that the appointment of Justice
Afreh to the Supreme Court before the court reviews its decision on the Tsatsu
Tsikata versus Attorney-General case is tantamount to the politicisation of the
Supreme Court.
It noted
that Mr Justice Afreh is currently one of the Appeal Court judges sitting as
additional High Court judge at the Fast Track Court. The statement added that
the constitutional status of the Fast Track Court is the issue that is before
the Supreme Court and, therefore, the ends of justice cannot be served if
Justice Afreh is empanelled to deliberate that issue.
“The NDC
wishes to remind the NPP Government of its avowed commitment to the rule of law
and, therefore, cautions that nothing must be done to either bring our
country’s system of administrative justice into disrepute or undermine the
integrity of the Supreme Court”, the statement added. – Daily Graphic.
Send your
comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
Accra
(Greater Accra) 14 March 2002 - The Police Administration has interdicted
Police Commissioner in-charge of Legal and Prosecutions, Mr Sam Awotwi,
following the attempt by two policemen to arrest Mr Tsatsu Tsikata in church.
The policemen, Detective Chief Inspector Hope Nyadi and Detective Inspector
Ashitey Annang, have also been interdicted.
A statement
issued by the Inspector General of Police, Ernest Owusu-Poku, said that
preliminary investigations have, so far, revealed that neither the Attorney General
nor the Deputy Attorney-General ordered the arrest of Mr Tsikata at the
premises of the Asbury Donewell Church in Accra.
The
investigations also indicate that Detective Chief Inspector Nyadi was the
officer in-charge of the case involving Mr Tsikata, with Detective Inspector
Annang as his assistant. According to the statement, the two detectives are
members of the Special Task Force, which has Mr Awortwi as the most senior
officer. The statement said that it has been established that the two
detectives were at the church premises and made contact with Mr Tsikata, the
pastor of the church and other members of the congregation.
The
statement said investigations are still ongoing “to establish who gave the
instructions for Mr Tsikata’s alleged arrest or whether there was indiscretion
on the part of the detectives.” It gave the assurance that the Police
Administration will not shield any police officer who might have acted
unprofessionally in the handling of the case - The Daily Graphic.
Send your
comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
Accra
(Greater Accra) 14 March 2002 - Government has assured cocoa farmers that it
will continue to review the price of the commodity as and when necessary in
accordance with trends on the international market. It stressed that Ghanaian
cocoa farmers are benefiting from the current boom in the prices on the
international market and debunked claims that the farmers are not adequately
rewarded.
The Special
Assistant to the Minister of Finance in Charge of cocoa affairs, Mr Poku Kyei,
speaking in an interview in Accra, said the budget presented to parliament by
the Minister of Finance in February increased the price of cocoa from ¢4.3
million to ¢6.2 million per metric tonne, representing a 31 per cent hike.
He said
that the government has, therefore, debunked reports in the international media
that farmers in Ghana, the world’s third largest producer of cocoa, are the
only ones who will not benefit from the current rise in world cocoa prices.
According
to the reports, cocoa price has risen nearly 70 percent since September last
year, reaching £1,210 a tonne as of last Tuesday. The report further quoted Mr
Graham Philips, a cocoa broker with Secden in London, that the price that
farmers in Ghana will receive for their crop this season – October to March –
has already been arranged by the government.
Mr Kyei
described the reports in the international media as “very misleading to the
ordinary Ghanaian cocoa farmer.” According to Mr Kyei, the Local Purchasing
(LPCs) has already started paying the new cocoa price so “there is no cause for
alarm.” He said the report that Ghana will not benefit from the current rise in
the cocoa price are not true, arguing, “on the contrary, we are enjoying from
the international market and the farmers have also started benefiting”.
The special
assistant said the disparity in the cocoa price in Ghana and that in Cote
d’Ivoire has been substantially reduced and in addition, “we are watching the
market and we will review the prices as and when necessary.” He declared: “The
price we are paying now is very competitive and we are confident it will
encourage farmers to produce more.” Mr Kyei explained that the government has
adopted three strategies to ensure that Ghana increases its output in cocoa
production.
This
include a pricing policy to ensure that the farmers get adequately paid to
reflect international trends, and ¢180 billion for a national spraying exercise
in May or early June this year, to reduce the havoc caused by capsid and
blackpod diseases so as to improve cocoa production. The government, Mr Kyei
said, is also to rehabilitate roads in the major cocoa production areas to
facilitate easy evacuation of cocoa through the STABEX Fund of 10 million Euros
(about ¢6.5 billion).
When
questioned about measures the government has put in place to add value to the
country’s cocoa, Mr Kyei disclosed that Cargill International, a world renowned
cocoa processing firm in the United Kingdom, has approached the government to
explore the possibility of establishing cocoa processing plants in the country.
“It is our commitment to ensure that foreign companies which will come to the
cocoa sector go to the rural areas, where the commodity is produced, to create
employment for the people,” he said.
Touching on
reports that large quantities of coffee are locked up in certain parts of the
country, Mr Kyei said his outfit is seriously working round the clock to
support the coffee industry to become a major foreign exchange earner. “There
is the need to really develop and support the coffee sector and I am in touch
with the leadership of the coffee farmers to come out with proposals to develop
the commodity as a means of diversifying our export.” Mr Kyei, however, said
coffee prices have, at the moment, taken a nose-dive on the international
market - The Daily Graphic.
Send your
comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
Accra (Greater Accra) 14 March 2002 - Mrs Mary
Adu-Boahen, wife of the sick and bedridden New Patriotic Party (NPP)
presidential candidate in the 1992 elections, Prof Albert Adu-Boahen, has hit
back at the children of her husband who levelled various allegations against
her in a court suit recently.
Mrs Adu-Boahen, has in addition, refuted most
of the claims of her foster children in response to a writ filed by the
children at an Accra High Court. The 16-point reaction, which was filed on her
behalf by the crack lawyers, Kocuvie Tay and Co, nonetheless, admitted that the
Emeritus Professor of history is ill.
In her rebuttal, she accused the 5th
plaintiff, Christopher Adu-Boahen that he once turned up at the house where
Prof Adu-Boahen is being nursed and in the absence of his wife, violently
disturbed him. “When his father was asleep, having been given his medicines, he
had a fierce struggle with the security man, went into the house, lifted his
ailing and drowsy father, placed him in a chair and started to interrogate him
as to his properties.”
The defendant contended that it was her
admonition of Christopher over the disturbance of his father that has caused
the son to “cherish animosity against me and to cause embarrassment to his
father and the newspaper publication.”
About Kwabena Adu-Boahen, the 2nd plaintiff,
the defendant charged that he packed his father’s belongings, dumped them at
the house of his father’s friend and left him for vacation. This was in 1993,
when Prof Adu-Boahen was in intensive care at the Pennsylvania Hospital in the
USA and since then “he has not set eyes on his father,” the woman went on.
The 3rd plaintiff, Cynara
Adu-Boahen, who lives in London refused to visit her father when he was
admitted at Cromwell Hospital in the same city until the old man’s wife sent an
emissary to prevail upon her to visit him and even then she did on “very few
occasions. Charles Adu-Boahen, the 4th plaintiff who also lived in
London visited his father for some three times not spending more than 30
minutes each time, whiles the old man was hospitalised there for four clear
months, said Mrs Adu-Boahen.
As would be recalled, in our February 27, 2002
edition, we carried a lead story titled, “Looming family crisis - Court
restrains Mrs Adu-Boahen.” In that story, the five children whom Prof
Adu-Boahen had in previous marriage had obtained an interim injunction from an
Accra High Court to restrain Mrs Adu-Boahen from “preventing them from visiting
their sick father of 69 years.”
In their submission, the children who were
represented by Kwaku Adu-Boahen, claimed that they faced the unfortunate task
of being prevented from seeing their sick dad by their step-mother, even though
he, Kwaku, for instance, had travelled back home from the US with the sole aim
of visiting his dad. “Whenever we call home to speak to our father on
telephone, our step-mother would not let us talk to him,” he further told the
Chronicle at the court. That hearing was on the interim injunction.
However, in her statement of defence in the
substantive suit, Mrs Adu-Boahen indicated that as and when any of the five
children had liked to visit their father, she has never prevented them. For
instance, she stated that Charles Adu-Boahen, on returning from South Africa in
December, last year, did not only visit the father but actually had dinner with
him, her step-mother and her children. She stressed the plaintiffs “have had
and still have access to their matrimonial home at all material times.”
Giving a little background to the Adu-Boahen’s
home affairs, the defendant said they lived together with all the five children
from 1975 to 1982 in her house at Ablempke where she took very good care of
them all. From 1982, the children moved to the present house, which is Mrs
Adu-Boahen’s with their father until 1985 when they left to live with their
actual mother.
“Since 1993, the plaintiffs’ father’s illness
has resulted in strict medical regimentation as to rest, sleep, physiotherapy,
etc., yet the 4th and 5th plaintiffs, whenever they come
to Ghana in transit and on tight schedule, have given not consideration to
their father’s health but their own interest in forcefully interrupting the
medical directions. – The Chronicle.
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
Koforidua (Eastern Region) 14 March 2002 - The
Anglican Archbishop of the Province of West Africa and Bishop of the
Koforidua-Ho Diocese, the Most Rev Robert G.A. Okine has condemned the recent
spate of spousal killings and said that any husband who takes a gun or any
implement to kill his wife is not a normal being - he has mental problems.
Life, he said, was sacred and belonged to God
and that anybody who took away a person’s life would not go unpunished. The
Most Rev Okine made the observation in an interview concerning the recent
killings of married women, the root causes and how to solve them. He said that
the problem could be attributed to lack of trust and provocation, the way some
couples approach issues and peer influence.
He said, any marriage built on suspicion and
mistrust was bound to face problems. Bishop Okine said however that, there were
many ways of solving marriage problems and mentioned counselling, pastoral
assistance and family intervention. But, he said, where the marriage had broken
down without any hope of bringing the two together, or had become so
incompatible, then steps should be taken to annul it without waiting for the
unexpected to happen.
Bishop Okine appealed to couples to be very
careful of the way they go about their marriages. He said, material wealth was
not an end to marriage, declaring that, marriage was about love, understanding
and faithfulness.
Mr Isaac Brewu, manager of Mobil Station
opposite Koforidua Commercial Bank noted that the lack of trust and respect for
one another were some of the problems, which had resulted in spousal killings.
He said problems of such nature could end only when there was faithfulness
among the two.
He stressed the need for openness in every
marriage to bring about trust and respect for one another. Mr Brewu said that,
the time had now come for churches to counsel members on how to handle marriage
problems. He also tasked the FM stations to devote time to educate couples on
their responsibilities to each other. He advised that couples should seek
counselling before they enter marriages.
Mrs Joyce Lamptey, Eastern regional president
of Beauticians and Hair Dressers Association abhorred the murdering of women
and described men who indulge in such habits as greedy and selfish. She noted
that while women were able to control their emotions, men were unable to do so
even though both were equal before God. She urged parents to endeavour to
investigate the background of people who propose marriage to their wards. Mrs
Lamptey called for love and respect in marriages to avoid quarrels leading to
loss of lives. – The Ghanaian Times.
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
Suspect’s kenkey loaded with coke
Tema (Greater Accra) 14 March 2002 - The Tema
Community One Police have arrested one George Ohene, for concealing three
wrappers suspected to contain Indian hemp and cocaine in balls of kenkey he was
sending to an accused person in custody. Ohene was arrested after a phone call
from an informant.
Speaking to the “Times” in Tema, Superintendent
Jonathan Yakubu said that at 2.40 pm on February 27, he received a phone call
informing him that someone was visiting an accused person with kenkey
containing narcotic drugs. He then alerted the counter NCO, Corporal Adjin
Tetteh, who “waited patiently for his guest.”
Some minutes later, Ohene walked in with a
packed lunch for Jonas Bawa who had been arrested for unlawfully entering an
electrical shop through the ceiling and stealing 14 amplifiers. According to
Supt Yakubu, Ohene upon the request of the counter NCO gave the food up for
inspection during which the tree wrappers wee uncovered.
One wrapper contained dried leaves suspected to
be Indian Hemp while the two others contained a whitish substance believed to
be cocaine. When questioned, Ohene could not explain how the substances found
their way into the balls of kenkey. He was consequently arrested on remand
awaiting trial. – The Ghanaian Times.
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
3. Preparation of the guidelines
(A) There is no doubt that the Guidelines were prepared by the two gentlemen mentioned by Mr Tsikata’s Lawyer in his interview with Komla Dumor on a local FM station. To appreciate why that happened, it is important to know that it was the two gentlemen (Justice S.A. Brobbey and Mr Kwesi Ainuson) who in November and December 2000 were nominated by Justice Abban to undergo a course of studies at the Continuing Judicial Institute in the State of Georgia.
They presented a report to Justice Abban who directed them to re-present it to the Acing Chief Justice since Justice Abban was proceeding on leave for medical treatment. It was as a result of that report that the Acting Chief Justice established the FTC as a Division of the High Court with instructions to apply IT to the High Court Rules in the proceeding, trial and execution of cases.
(B) Having established the FTC and taken various decisions as to how the courts should be run and how litigation should be conducted including the use of IT to reduce the life of a case on trial to six months, he (Chief Justice) could ask any one knowledgeable in the processes being advocated by him to prepare the design of the court and its operation for him. Given that the two were the only men who had made special study of automated courts as in practice in the State of Georgia and whose report gave the impetus of the Chief Justice to establish the FTC, it was only natural that he would ask the two to prepare the design for the implementation of his policies.
(C) In all Departments of the Public Service, that is how administration is conducted; a decision is taken and it is the knowledgeable subordinates who draw up details for the head. When the PNDC decided to reduce the period spent on education, the decision was taken as a matter of policy and experts in education were tasked to write down the programme for implementing the decision. It was not the Principal Secretary or the Chief Director who drew up the programme by himself.
(D) Since the courts were to use computers and since most of the court registrars, court personnel and the judges were not computer literate, the need was felt for clear Guidelines to be issued as to how to operate and use the FTC. The logical situation was that the Acting Chief Justice decided what he desired to put into place as his policy. The two gentlemen (Justice S.A. Brobbey and Mr Kwesi Ainuson) who had undergone special studies leading to the establishment of the FTC were directed to reduce those policies into the form of Guidelines that would ensure the realization of those policies of the Chief Justice in charge of the administration of the courts.
(E) That was similar to when the PNDC decided to reduce the school going age of children in his country. The Council took the decision and the Ministry of Education got experts to reduce the programme into writing and it was implemented. Surely it was not the Principal Secretary of Chief Director who prepared details of the programme. The same procedure is adopted if school syllabus for instance has to be changed. It is not the Principal Secretary who creates the details of the syllabus. The Principal Secretary takes the decision that is educed into writing by his subordinates for the study and adoption by the Principal Secretary and the Ministry of Education.
The methods are adopted because there is no law that directs how the head of a Government institution should administer the department under him. Why should that be different in the case of the Chief Justice?
The important points are whether he took the decision to create the courts and whether he took the decision to use computers to reduce the disposal of cases to six months. By signing the Guidelines, he surely evidenced the fact that the Guidelines were made under his directions. That is all that is required by him to promote the administration and supervision of the courts.
(F)
Article 159 and Passage of Legislative Instrument
The Judicial Service has a history of similar assignments being done in the name of officials of the Service based on decisions taken by the Chief Justice for the improvement of the Service without having to be backed by Legislative Instruments.
In the late 1980s when it was decided that the structure of the Service had to be re-examined with the view to rationalising and improving the entire Service, the assignment was undertaken, on the instruction of the then Chief Justice, by Mr Justice Wiredu at a time when he was a Justice of the Court of Appeal. The report he produced was and is still called the Wiredu Report. The current Judicial Service structure is based on that Wiredu Report.
That was a report based on a decision taken by the then Chief Justice for the improvement of the Judicial Service that was acted upon even though no Legislative Instrument was issued on it. There is also the Roger Korsah Report on Administrative Directives or Directions for the Judicial Service. No Legislative Instrument came with that too!
This is to illustrate the point that it is not every decision taken or the efficient performance of the Judicial Service that needs to go through the process outlined in Article 159 or needs to be backed by Legislative Instrument before it can be legal or before it can be acted upon.
(G)
Conveying the computers to the High Court without
Guidelines - a historical background.
The Judicial Service has had the history of similar simplistic approaches to automation without Guidelines, which totally flopped. In the late 1970s during the time when Mr Justice Azu Crabbe was Chief Justice, tape recorders were purchased and installed in the Criminal Divisions of the High Court in Accra, Sekondi and Kumasi to be used in recording court proceedings.
There were no Guidelines, no instructions and the system simply collapsed next to no time. Those were only tape recorders. Now the system in place is made more complex by computers and the use of networking and some people think they can be sustained by just being moved from one court room to another with a simple statement like “Go ahead and use them” and Sesame-they will be used! That is invitation to chaos and definite doom to failure of the automation.
Tsikata is a lawyer and he knows about the Azu Crabbe experiment. He should be asked about his own recollections of the tape recording system under Justice Azu Crabbe and what became of them. Without clear Guidelines as to the use, maintenance and acquisition of consumables containing policy directions on the sustenance of the system itself as well as the future of the equipment, the entire system will collapse, just like it happened to the tape recorders under Justice Azu Crabbe.
4. Civil and criminal jurisdiction in the Tsikata case
The original writ filed by Tsikata applied for an order that the FTC had no criminal jurisdiction and therefore could not try him. Later he amended his writ to cover civil disputes in the FTC by applying for an order that the entire FTC was unconstitutional and illegal. The judges strangely allowed the amendment without asking for his locus standi to bring a case involving civil disputes. Strangely they decided on the application in so far that it involved civil disputes as well.
The pertinent questions are these, did Tsikata have any mandate from any person or party in a civil suit to apply for a declaration to affect civil suit? Secondly, if the Supreme Court judges did not comment on the legality of the Selormey case because it was not an issue when he filed his appeal in the Supreme Court, can the same Supreme Court decide on civil disputes, which were technically not before them? More research and analysis to follow. – The Crusading Guide
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com