Top NDC Man to Be Thrown Out of Bungalow

The defeated National Democratic Congress' (NDC) Parliamentary candidate for the Sekondi Constituency in the 2000 elections, Captain Albert Richard Cudjoe, is paying a price for perhaps belonging to what in the estimation of some members of the current government, is the wrong party.

Aside from the pending legal tussle with his former employers, Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GHAPOHA), over wrongful dismissal, Captain Cudjoe was on January 31st this year, served with a three paragraph letter notifying him that the one month grace period given him by the port authority to quit his Tema Community 2 bungalow, had elapsed and was therefore being asked to vacate the bungalow on February 2nd this year. Captain Cudjoe, who was once the head of GHAPOHA security, was until his dismissal, the acting Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of GHAPOHA Football Club, based in Tema.

But investigations by this paper, show that what underlies the simmering feud between him and his former employees, is the big political game plan of those currently at the helm of GHAPOHA, to deal with people they identify with the past government.

Captain Cudjoe, credible sources hinted this writer, in one of a series of inquiries he made pertaining to the quit order given him by the management of GHAPOHA, was once confronted by a top management member, who asked him why he decided to contest the Sekondi parliamentary seat while he was still at post at GHAPOHA.

Captain Cudjoe himself corroborated the story later in an interview. Captain Cudjoe took leave of absence to contest the Sekondi seat, but returned to GHAPOHA after his abortive bid for the Sekondi seat and he was asked by management to manage GHAPOHA football club in an acting capacity as the club's Chief Executive Officer.

Captain Cudjoe further revealed in an interview that indeed he had been asked by the Port Authority to quit his Community 2 bungalow, but thought that it amounted to gross injustice and sheer persecution, because he is currently locked in a legal tussle with his former employers over the manner in which he was dismissed, the final outcome of which was yet to be determined, by the Tema High Court.

The Independent gathered that Captain Cudjoe won the substantive case over his dismissal, in which a Tema High Court upheld his ex-parte application, that he was wrongfully dismissed.

The Independent discovered from investigations that the latest legal bout between the two parties arose because GHAPOHA filed a counter-motion praying for a stay of execution after the court judgement had gone against it, claiming that the Port Authority was not notified within the stipulated eight days notice.

With the issue still pending at the court, Captain Cudjoe wondered whether the Authority weighed the legal implications of the ejection order that was issued to him in respect of his occupancy of the GHAPOHA bungalow at Community 2, in Tema.

Captain Cudjoe's lawyer, Enoh-Amah Andoh, in a letter reacting to the ejection order to the Director General of Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority, reminded the Port Authority that, "the subject matter of this suit is still sub-judice and as such the contents of your letter constitute a contempt of court."

He therefore advised the Port Authority to withdraw the said letter by Friday February 7, 2003 "or else we would attach you for contempt of court".

As a background to the current impasse, this writer discovered that on 31st December 2002, a Committee of Inquiry was set up by the office of the Director-General of GHAPOHA to investigate two cases involving some officials of GHAPOHA FC.

The Committee was set up on the very day that the Acting Chief Executive Officer was interdicted. The Authority advised him accordingly that any further action on his status in the establishment would be dependant upon the findings of the Commission of Inquiry.

By the terms of reference, the Committee was to look into the circumstances under which GHAPOHA players, Bernard Don Bortey and Richard Nii Noi were transferred to Accra Hearts of Oak FC some two years ago.

The Committee took into consideration the method by which the two players were transferred, the final bargaining for the transfer of the two and the "lodgement of the money received appear not to have been well established in accordance with the Port Authority's procedure for the club, if any".

The Committee was also to look into the circumstances leading to the procurement and return of footwear for the club-GHAPOHA.

According to the Committee's final report, "at the request of the club, Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority paid for a quantity of footwear for the club. Unknown to the club, however, the report stated, the club officials returned some of the footwear and demanded a refund of the money in cash.

The committee, according to the report, investigated how the said boots were purchased, the quantity involved and the numbers which were returned.

The Committee was also charged to establish whether the acting Chief Executive of GHAPOHA FC went through the proper process of returning the boots to the Supplier and the circumstances leading to the alleged refund of the money involved; and whether there was any misconduct involving the Ag. Chief Executive and any of his officials.

Interestingly nowhere in the Committee's report was any criminal act imputed against Captain Cudjoe. The Committee in its concluding notes noted that "it was an apparent lack of policy guidelines, administrative checks and balances within the club, particularly with regards to the powers and limitations of the Ag. CEO/Chairman that greatly contributed to these developments".

Among other things, the Committee recommended that the financial administration of the Club should be made to perform the functions of a Board and that the discretionary powers of the Financial Controller with regards to financial administration of the club should be stopped.

Notwithstanding the fact that no criminal charges were found against Captain Cudjoe, The Independent discovered that the former GHAPOHA Chief Executive Officer was dismissed outright together with his helmsmen claiming that their action was premised on the findings of the Committee of Inquiry.

However his outright dismissal was later reduced to termination of appointment after he had petitioned the Board of Directors of GHAPOHA that nowhere in the findings of the Committee's report had it been stated that criminal charges were preferred against him.

In his affidavit, Captain Cudjoe argued among other things that GHAPOHA Football Club was set up under the Companies Code 1963 Act 179 and further contended that in as much as GHAPOHA is a limited liability company and a separate and distinct legal entity from GHAPOHA, management of the Ports and Harbours has no jurisdiction in setting up a committee of inquiry into the affairs of a separate legal entity and purporting to dismiss Captain Cudjoe after the committee had submitted its findings to them.

It was based on these submission, parts of which have been quoted above, that Captain Cudjoe's submission was upheld by the Tema High Court.