The Supreme Court has set October 26, 2021, to rule on a review application from the Attorney General challenging the court’s decision to remove a trial judge in the criminal case brought against former COCOBOD Chief Executive, Dr. Stephen Kwabena Opuni.
Attorney General, Godfred Dame filed for a review following a majority decision upholding an argument of bias against the trial judge who is also a Supreme Court Justice, Clemence Honyenuga.
In the review application, the Attorney General argued that the decision of the ordinary bench contained fundamental and grave errors which have manifestly resulted in a substantial miscarriage of justice.
“The decision of the ordinary bench of this Supreme Court dated 28 July 2021, contained fundamental and grave errors which have manifestly resulted in a substantial miscarriage of justice, as it effectively ignored the time-honoured fundamental and mandatory preconditions for an invocation of the Supreme Court’s supervisory jurisdiction for an order of certiorari to quash an alleged error contained in a decision of a Superior Court”.
The Attorney General, in his statement of case, further added that “a decision which erroneously departs from recognized principles regarding the invocation of this honourable court’s supervisory jurisdiction is bad in law, manifests injustice and constitutes an exceptional circumstance [thus] warranting a review by the court”.
Mr. Dame also noted that, “it is our humble submission that a careful application of relevant principles regarding the invocation of both the supervisory and review jurisdictions of the Court will undoubtedly result in a setting aside of the decision complained of. To preserve same will be a bad and dangerous precedent for Ghana law.”
Two more judges, Justices Ashie Kotey and Gertrude Tokornoo have been added to the original five made up of Justices Jones Dotse, Gabriel Pwamang, Agnes Dodzie, Tanko Amadu and Avril Lovelace-Johnson for the review application.
Justices Gabriel Pwamang, Agnes Dodzie, Tanko Amadu ruled in favor of Dr. Opuni in the original case, while Justices Jones Dotse and Avril Lovelace-Johnson ruled against him.
