#OccupyBoG demo: Ato Forson, other respondents evading service – Police to Court

The High Court in Accra has been told that the Respondents in the #OccupyBoG injunction led by the Minority Leader in Parliament, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson, have been evading service of the court processes.

The police currently, has a pending application for an interlocutory injunction to restrain the organisers of the OccupyBoG demonstration despite the organisers announcing a change of route.

The protest has since been scheduled for October 3, 2023.

For the third time in a row, the application has adjourned because the respondents have not been served with the Applicant’s (Police) application.

In court on Tuesday, September 26, 2023, the application titled ‘The IGP and Attorney General vs. Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson and others could not be heard.

A Principal State Attorney (PSA) from the Office of the Attorney General, George Tetteh Sackey, who appeared with Superintendent Sylvester Asare, a lawyer with the Police legal unit, told the Court that the respondents in the matter have been evading service.

“My Lord, the Respondents (Dr. Ato Forson and others) have been evading service of the Processes so far and we have not been able to serve them,” the PSA told the court.

Asked by the Financial Division of the High Court in Accra presided over by Justice Edward Twum, the vacation judge, why they have not come back to the court by way of substituted service, the PSA said, they want to try one more time.

While Chief Supt. Elorm Bani represented the IGP, Chief Supt. Isaac N K Yeboah, the Applicant was present.

The other Respondents Emmanuel Armah Kofi Boah, Masawudu Mahama, Bernard Mornah, and Rex Owusu Omar were absent.

The case has been adjourned to Friday, September 29, 2023.

Occupy Julorbi injunction withdrawn

EIB Network’s Legal Affairs Correspondent, Murtala Inusah, who was in court reports that, the Police application for injunction filed on September 19 to stop the #Occupy Julorbi Protest’ on September 21 at the Jubilee House with withdrawn.

This was because the said protest had already taken place and rendered the application moot.

Justice Edward Twum while striking out the application after it was withdrawn by the applicant, observed that the processes were served on the solicitors of the Respondent, but there was no proof to show if it was brought to the attention of Benjamin Akuffo Darko, the Respondent in the matter.

Justice Twum also said since there was no order from the court, the only other option was for that application to be withdrawn which was done.

New date

The Minority caucus in Parliament on September 11 postponed its planned protest to occupy the premises of the Bank of Ghana.

The intended protest is to demand the resignation of the governor Dr. Ernest Addison and his deputies over the central bank’s record of Ghc60 billion loss in the 2022 financial year.

For the second time after September 4, the minority in a statement disclosed that the protest will now be held on October 3, 2023.

The Member of Parliament for Bawku Central, Mahama Ayariga,…."We have agreed on the routes and we are telling them that we will terminate at the Kwame Nkrumah Mausoleum.”