The former Chief Executive of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) Tsatsu Tsikata has said that he is not surprised at the Supreme Court’s reversal of its 28 February 2002 decision on the Fast Track Court. According to him, there was collaboration between the Executive and the Judiciary against him.
Mr Tsatsu’s reaction follows Wednesday’s 6-5 ruling by the court in favor of the Attorney-General that the Fast Track High Court has all the legal standing and could operate. “A particular Judge was brought in to come and rule in their favours so I am not surprised at all,” he said.
The Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Nana Akufo Addo told newsmen after the ruling that the 6-5 decision by the court to uphold the constitutionality of the Fast Track High Court shows that the government’s committee to rule of law had been established.
He said the original decision of the court on 28 February was fundamentally wrong and perverse. Those who ruled in favour of the FTC were Justices George Acquah, Williams Atugubah, Sophia Akuffo, George Lamptey and Kwame Afreh. The Justices who ruled against the ruling were Justices Joyce Bamford-Addo, A.K.B Ampiah, E.D.K. Adjabeng, F.K. Kpegah and T.K Adzoe.
The processing, which began at exactly 10,00 am, was marked by tension, anxiety and captured all that drama could provide. The court was fully packed and the audiences in the heated room were seen either wiping sweat off their foreheads or fanning themselves with any conceivable object.
As each of the judges gave their ruling, people in the court sat on tenterhooks at they did not know in which direction the Supreme Court would go. Some of the members of the panel could speak for as long as 45 minutes to one hour, the longest perhaps coming from Justice Kwame Afreh and Justices Kpegah.
As these long proceedings dragged on, journalists who showed tiredness and lack of stamina trooped out of the court to take fresh air. The TV cameramen seemed to have abandoned their equipment and, on of their faces, one could tell that they wished proceedings could have ended. One journalist was heard saying, “This is one of my hectic times in court.”
Unlike the previous sitting in which the National Democratic Congress gurus were conspicuously absent, on Tuesday proceeding was attended by Mr John Mahama, NDC Director for Communication, Dr Josiah Ayeh, General Secretary, Baba Camara, Deputy General Secretary, and Ms Frances Essiam, NDC Women Organiser.
