Government flouts court order

Two years after the Fast Track High Court ruled that government reinstate the dismissed former Deputy Director of the Immigration Service, Kodjo Hodari-Okae, the government is yet to comply with the order.

Mr Hodari Okae was transferred from the Service in 2002 to the Free Zones Board following what he calls a directive he had issued for the refusal of an entry permit to an Italian national, who was found to have falsified his documents.

At a press conference on Monday, Mr Hodari Okae told journalists his transfer was politically motivated since he received a query for his actions from then Coordinator of the National Economic Dialogue, Stephen Asamoah-Boateng.

“Mr. Asamoah-Boateng followed this threat by issuing me a query which according to him I should have answered in seven days. I ignored his query for want of capacity. He then sent a memo to Dr. Addo Kufuor who was then acting Minister of the Interior and sector Minister for Immigration in which, throwing all caution to the wind, Asamoah-Boateng sought to incite the Minister against me and against another immigration officer at the Kotoka International Airport, suggesting that we considered the government as a toothless bull dog, and further that I am one of the numerous people within our public institutions who may be consciously disrupting government efforts. He never substantiated these allegations.”

The former Deputy Director of the GIS said several petitions he sent to the Council of State, Chief of Staff and Minister for Presidential Affairs among others went unheeded, compelling him to seek redress at the courts.

In May 2005, a Fast Track High Court presided over by Justice Baffoe-Bonnie ruled that he be reinstated but to date government has not complied with the judgement.

Mr Hodari-Okae described government’s inaction as victimization