Court Screams At B.N.I Boss!

In a most uncharacteristic manner, a normally soft-spoken justice of the High Court has said that it would seem that the Director of the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) has space and time to do every other thing in the world apart from attending to the court!

This was after a Chief State Attorney Ellen Kwawukume has told the court, most interestingly, that she cannot vouch for the conduct of the Director of the BNI.

The Human Rights Court presided over by Justice Dery has therefore ordered the Director of the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI), Yaw Donkor, to appear before him on 24th June 2010 or have a bench warrant issued for his arrest.

This was after Chief State Attorney Ellen Kwawukume had told the court that even though she is the lawyer for Mr. Donkor, she had never met the man, had never spoken to him, and all her communications sent to him had not been answered!

The revelations did not please the court, which noted that it was obvious that Mr. Donkor finds all other things more important than attending the court.

He said that Mr. Yaw Donkor is giving the impression that he does not want to attend to the court, and that if he fails to appear before the court by June 24, he would issue a bench warrant for his arrest.

Mr. Donkor and two other officials of the Bureau of National Investigations, Josephine Gandawiri and Stephen Abrokwa have been sued by Mr. Asamoah Boateng and other members of his family for infringing on their fundamental human rights.

Counsel for Mr. Asamoah Boateng, Nene Amegatcher however, requested the court to take the bull by the horn since Mr. Yaw Donkor is unwilling to show up.

He argued that all is subject to the court including the President and their magnanimity should not be taken for granted.

“It is not fair to the court and parties unless counsel makes an undertaken that she would bring him, I will accept it, if not my Lord please issue a bench warrant”, he stated.

In response, Ellen Kwawukume, counsel for respondents told the court that in the case of the 2nd and 3rd respondents, she was ready to give an undertaken but not in the case of 1st respondent.

“I have never seen or met him before, every information I have for him, I pass it through someone else,” she said concerning the Director.

But in a sharp rebuttal, Nene said Mrs. Kwawukume is on record as her lawyer to the Director “so it is her duty to ensure he shows courtesy to the court”.

The trial judge told the counsel for the BNI Director to ensure that her client is present at the next hearing saying “if he fails to appear, we would issue a bench warrant”.

Yaw Donkor and his two subordinates were cited for contempt for preventing former Information Minister, Stephen Asamoah Boateng, and his family from travelling outside the country on two occasions without recourse to a court order.

However, on September 3, 2009, the Attorney-General’s Department filed an application at the Human Rights Court praying it to hear the case in-camera in view of the fact that the persons involved are undercover agents.

Mr. Donkor has consistently failed to appear before the Human Rights Court in person since the case started last August, even before the A-G filed the in-camera application which counsel for Mr. Asamoah Boateng had consistently complained about.