Lome Court Re-installs Ghanaian President Of ECOWAS Bank

It may have been an act of God but workers at the ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development (EBID) over the weekend reacted in fury over news of the pronouncements of the Executive Secretary of ECOWAS to the effect that Dr. George Yankey was out of office despite a favourable ruling of an Abuja high court.

They immediately secured the service of a top Togolese lawyer, who put in an appearance before the highest tribunal of the land and successfully argued for the enforcement of the ruling of the Abuja court.


The action has nullified the loud proclamation of the Executive Secretary … of Economic Community of West African States Mr. Koyate in Accra last weekend.


By noon yesterday, Dr. Sipa Yankey was back at his desk accompanied by court bailiffs and policemen who removed the locks that had been changed by unknown thugs and replaced them with regular locks.


Yankey had sued the Council of ECOWAS Ministers for writing to terminate his appointment, following representations from Ghana withdrawing their support for him despite endorsement from the previous Government.


Workers dressed in celebratory white clothes cheered and rejoiced when Yankey formally entered his office and picked up his pen to continue the work he had laboured for.


The ruling confirmed what the Nigerian court had decided.

Chronicle intelligence gathered that Kouyate, who came to parrot stories about Yankey, had been ousted from a previous job at the United Nations by Mr. Kofi Annan.


The Nigerian Press have regaled the public with stories of malfeasance about him with the most recent edition of the premier investigative weekly magazine, TELL leading the fray.


Yankey's legal victory, according to legal sources, was premised on the legal position the ECOWAS may well claim immunity but that is on action filed by outside parties.


But an employee of an ECOWAS institution like EBID could sue and be sued. Dr. Yankey was therefore within his legal limit


Both Dr. Kwesi Nduom and Hon Hackman Owusu Agyeman, Minister for Regional Cooperation and Foreign Minister respectively, were unaware of the latest developments when reached on the phone for their comments.


A meeting in Cote D'Ivoire this weekend may review the matter, but the prospect of subverting the ruling of the highest court in Togo and the relevant legal authority for ECOWAS in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, may be too politically damaging to contemplate.