Judge sitting on Labour vs. Gov’t case steps down

The judge presiding over the case involving the 12 labour unions and government has stepped down following a petition by the former.

The labour unions have accused Justice Saeed Gyan of being biased and pre-judging the case in a petition to the Chief Justice Georgina Wood.

According to them, during one of the sittings, the judge allowed the deputy AG to argue on an interlocutory injunction to restrain the defendants from embarking on their strike, which had already been called off.

“It is also interesting to note that even though from the pleadings filed by the respective parties, the question as to what the meaning of ‘employer’ in terms of Act 766 is, and who has the right to set up an occupational pension scheme, falls right at the heart of the dispute, the learned judge in an interlocutory ruling striking out the Bank of Ghana from the suit, seems to have prejudged that critical issue,” the petition read in part.

“Even though no evidence has been led on the issue and no legal arguments have been advanced on same, the judge in his ruling on the 16th day of February, 2015, stated that the government was the declared or presumed employer. Respectfully this is grave and serious. We would respectfully appreciate a transfer of the case to a court in which we can be assured of not only an expeditious determination of the case but real and true justice.

“We hereby apply for the suit mentioned above to be transferred to a different judge. We are prepared to bear all expenses connected therewith,” the petition added.

The Unions in 2014 embarked on a strike to demand the payment of their tier two pension contributions into their privately run accounts.

They claim that government erred in lodging their tier two pension contributions at the Bank of Ghana instead of their private running schemes as stated by the new Pension Act.

But government rejected their accusations saying that there was a high risk involved with the running of a private pension by scheme by public sector workers.