The judiciary is the bastion of Ghana’s democracy. If it allows itself to be compromised or bastardized, there will be no future for the country. The country would revert to the State of Nature where life is very short, nasty and brutish. But that is not what the country needs. The founding fathers fought to bring this country to the state where we are now. My heart therefore bleeds to hear that we have such criminals masquerading as officers of the law. How can a docket get missing on the very day judgement was going to be given in suit which both parties have spent time and money on? This is a mind bugging case whose knot could only be untangled by Her Lord, Chief Justice and the Judicial Council.
I have been compelled to comment on a legal tussle between two parties which is before An Accra High Court of Justice, Land Division, presided over by His Lordship Justice John A. Jet-Nasam. .
The crux of the matter is that there is a land dispute at Sowutuom, near Pentecost University College, Accra, between the families of Ben Tetteh Ocloo and Emmanuel Kingsley Appiah. The piece of building land was acquired by the Tetteh Ocloo family as far back as 1997, but due to financial constraint their application for Land Title Registration could only be effected in 1994. After payment of the prescribed fee, the Yellow Card was issued to them.
Suddenly, one Mr Emmanuel Kingsley Appiah appeared on the scene claiming ownership of the said land. He ordered the Tetteh Ocloo family to vacate the portion of land. The latter had already put up a structure on the land to serve as their residence. Obviously, they resisted every move by Mr. Appiah to evict them from what they termed their bona fide property.
Mr. Kingsley Appiah sent the case to the Circuit Court at 28th February Road (Cocoa Affairs) Accra. The case was listed under Suit No OCL 111/99 between Emmanuel Kingsley Appiah of H/NO.A354/4 Sakumo Crescent and Linus Ocloo of Plot No.320, West Akweteman, Accra. Mr Appiah stopped appearing in court when he realized that the odds were heavily staked against him. The case has been pending since.
In 2008, MTN built its mask on a portion of the disputed land. Sensing that the Ocloo family would be the beneficiary of the building of the mask by the MTN, Mr Emmanuel Kingsley Appiah resurfaced to once more stake his claim for the land in question. He renewed his litigation by sending the case to the Financial Division of Accra High Court 11. Suit No. IRL/21/08 has Emmanuel Kingsley Appiah as Plaintiff with Scancom, Linus Ocloo and Benjamin Ocloo as 1ST, 2ND 3RD Defendants.
The Defenders are being represented by Solicitors B. Nutsukpi Esq. and Sean Poku Esq. of Dery and Company, 2nd Floor, Bonsa House, Kwame Nkrumah Avenue, Adabraka.
Judgment was to be delivered on 25th February, 2013, but the Court made an Order for the preparation of Composite Plan in the suit.
Earlier on, the Court had granted Plaintiff leave to amend her Writ of Summons and Accompanying Statement of Claim filed on 6/11/2008.
The Court was to give final judgement on 21st January, 2014. But on the day in question, the Presiding Judge shocked everybody present when he stated openly that he could not deliver judgement on the case because the docket/case file could not be found.
The mind bogging questions are why and how? What does the Court Register have to say to that? In whose custody was the docket? What is happening to our justice system? Is it a case of cocaine turning into “konkonte” or baking powder?
The Court Registrar at the close of the day’s proceedings called both parties separately to inform them that the new date for judgement had been fixed for Friday, 28th February, 2014.
How did the docket resurface and at what time or point was it found?
We know Justice John A. Jet-Nasam to be a man of integrity, honesty who is trained, firm and experienced to deliver good judgement and we expect him to live by the tenets of his profession. We expect nothing less than these.
Come Friday, 28th February, 2014 we expect the truth to come out as to who is the true owner of that piece of land which is tearing both parties apart. And the truth is in Justice Jet-Nasam bosom. No matter which side the verdict favours, we must not overlook the fact that someone somewhere in the Judiciary had attempted to use his position to thwart the course of justice. If the attempt had succeeded, it would have been seen as a constitutional coup against the Republic of Ghana, the country we all claim to love and cherish very much.
The earlier Her Lordship, Mrs. Justice Georgina Wood ordered a thorough and immediate investigation into the matter, the better it would be for the entire judicial system. There should be no sacred cow. Nothing should be done to shield the miscreant who attempted to bring the name of the Judiciary into disrepute.
Madam, Chief Justice, Ghanaians await your action on this matter.
Daniel Danquah Damptey (0243715297) Damptey_daniel@yahoo.com