Amidu vs Woyome: Supreme Court setting bad precedent - Ayine

Deputy Attorney General, Dr. Dominic Ayine is warning of a bad precedent being set by the Supreme Court when it granted Martin Amidu’s request to orally examine businessman Alfred Agbesi Woyome. He is also predicting a cul-de-sac in the Martin Amidu’s showdown with Woyome.

Mr. Amidu who is a former Attorney General applied to orally examine Mr. Woyome with a conviction that government was not willing to retrieve a GHc51.2 million judgment debt the latter wrongfully obtained.

This was granted by the Supreme Court on Wednesday, but the Deputy Attorney General believes the court erred. “This is a very bad precedent that we are setting. It is not going to help in the development of our constitutional law,” Dr. Dominic Ayine told host of 3FM’s Sunrise, Winston Amoah on Thursday.

He admitted that even though Mr. Amidu obtained a declaratory judgement for the state, Article 2 under the constitution does not grant him the procedural right of enforcement.

“Where the consequential orders are not directed at the person [who obtained the declaratory judgment], that person cannot take action,” he explained, “it is only the Attorney General who can take action”. “I think the Supreme Court was wrong,” he said of the ruling by Justice Anin Yeboah.

He cited several moves by the Attorney General to retrieve the money from Mr. Woyome. This included attachment of his property at Trasacco Valley, frozen account, he said, adding that evidence of “active steps” taken have been presented to the court.

He therefore described as “surprising” claim by the judge that “we have not taken any steps to retrieve the money”. The Deputy Minister also wondered whether after the oral examination, the court would ask Martin Amidu to enter judgment to retrieve the money including attaching his property.

Dr. Ayine accused Martin Amidu of “collaborating” with pressure group Occupy Ghana just to “keep the matter alive”.