Dr. Valerie Sawyerr
The Herald has landed some pointers suggesting that all is not well with the Judicial Service led by Chief Justice Sophia Akuffo.
A simple case of judicial review, have had to go through three different judges before a final decision was reached in favour of the Attorney-General and Economic and Organized Crime Office (EOCO) and against the plaintiff, a former board member of Ghana National Gas Company, Dr. Valerie Sawyerr.
This is the case in which the Akufo-Addo government, circulated claims Ghana Gas had lost helicopters in a report put together by Morrison & Associates.
The former Senior Policy Adviser and Head of the Presidential Delivery Unit in the John Maham administration on October 8, 2018, applied to an Accra High Court to set aside adverse findings made against her by the EOCO, however, it took three different judges to finally make a pronouncement on the case on July 19, 2019.
Chief Justice initially placed the case before Justice Sophia Bernasko, but it was moved to Justice Norvisi Aryene and finally to Justice Jennifer Dodoo, who dismissed the Judicial Review application by Dr. Sawyerr, forcing her to file an appeal, and insisting on her right to be heard ahead of a government sponsored forensic report which made some findings against her.
Similar changing of judges had happened in the case of Gregory Afoko. The judge who recently refused his bail application is different from the one who, had earlier granted him the bail, and also presided over his trial since his arrest in 2016 over the murder of the Upper East Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Adams Mahama.
A fresh trial is about to start with a new High Court Judge. The position of the Attorney General is that Mr Afoko’s accomplice in the murder, had been finally arrested, therefore the case must restart, but his family and legal team insist on his innocence, saying he would be acquitted if the earlier trial was made to suffice.
The application sought by Dr. Sawyerr is to, among other things, quash an audit report commissioned by EOCO into the activities of Ghana Gas. This report, put together by Morrison & Associates, made adverse findings against the members of the board of Ghana Gas under the chairmanship of Prof. Kwesi Botchway.
Dr. Sawyerr, challenged the validity of the report on the grounds that she was never given a hearing before the report was completed, submitted and widely publicized.
Amongst the reliefs sought was an injunction restraining ACP K.K. Amoah from acting as the Executive Director of EOCO, since he had passed the mandatory retirement age.
K.K. Amoah, went on mandatory retirement in 2009 as Assistant Commissioner of Police in the Ghana Police Service on the attainment of sixty years, but was appointed in February 2018 by President Akufo-Addo as Acting Executive Director of EOCO, when he was about sixty-nine years.
In the course of proceedings, the Executive headed by President Akufo-Addo obviously in agreement with the applicant’s position, relieved K.K. Amoah of his post on February 25, 2019, which caused the applicant to withdraw her suit against K.K. Amoah who was then the 3rd Respondent. Thus the application was considered with only the applicant, the Attorney-General (1st respondent) and EOCO (2nd respondent) as parties.
While the case was pending, the Attorney Generals department attempted to smuggle in a different report claiming that it was the ‘true audit report’. This report was also titled ‘’Investigations into the Operations of Ghana National Gas Company’ and dated September 2018, as opposed to the report submitted by the Applicant that was dated May 2018.
But for the vigilance of the applicant’s lawyer, Godwin EdudzieTameklo Esq, this report would have been used to throw out the Applicant’s case since the Applicant had filed her case based on the report dated May 2018.
The court held that since the new report was dated September 2018, it could not possibly have been the audit report being referred to in the Report of the Cabinet Committee responsible for the Coordination of Investigations/Forensic Audits for the period ended 30th August 2018, which was dated August 31, 2018.
The court said that ‘from the dates and chronology of events, the letter authored on 31st August 2018 could only have been referring to Exhibit VS11 (the audit report submitted by the applicant Dr. Sawyerr) as by then Exhibit AG3 (the audit report that the Attorney General claimed was the true audit report) had not come into existence’.
It would be recalled that the brouhaha started in September 2019 when a document headed ‘Cabinet Committee responsible for the Coordination of Investigations/Forensic Audits for the period ended 30th June 2018’ signed by Edward Dua Agyeman as Secretary to the Cabinet Committee, referring to and quoting copiously from an Audit Report conducted by Morrison & Associates on Ghana Gas, was published and widely circulated on September 20, 2018, by mainstream and online media.
The said helicopters had apparently been handed over to the Air Force in a widely publicised official handing-over ceremony on September 2015, by ex-President John Mahama, now flagbearer of the NDC.
On July 19, 2019, after adjourning the case three times for judgment because the Deputy Attorney General, Godfred Yeboah Dame, was not available, the court held that if EOCO, had leveled charges against the applicant without offering a hearing, it would have violated its duty under article 23 of the 1992 Constitution which enjoins administrative bodies and officials to act fairly and reasonably and to comply with the requirements imposed on them by law.
The court further held that the invitation by EOCO to the applicant (exhibit VS3) dated September 27, 2018, to assist in investigations, had given the applicant an opportunity for a fair hearing. The court said that ‘had they not done so, any decision they had taken would have been in breach of her rights to a fair hearing’. The court therefore refused to quash the report.
But Counsel for Dr. Sawyerr, has filed a notice of appeal on the following grounds insisting “the trial court erred when it held that the 2nd Respondent was not enjoined to observe the rules of natural justice when it conducted investigations into the affairs of the Ghana National Gas Company since those investigations did not lead to charges being leveled against the Applicant”.
The appeal noted that “The trial court erred when it held that Exhibit VS3 inviting the Applicant by the 2nd Respondent constituted sufficient hearing when the forensic audit Report had already been completed and submitted to the 2nd Respondent and published nationwide”.
Thirdly it said that “the trial court erred when it held that the remedy of certiorari was an inappropriate remedy to quash the findings and observations contained in the forensic audit report completed and submitted to the 2nd Respondent and published nationwide, since the findings and observations were merely investigatory”.
Fourthly, Dr. Sawyerr insists “the trial court erred when it held that the 2nd Respondent did not act ultra vires the Public Procurement Act, 2003 (Act 663) when it contracted Morrison & Associates to audit the activities of Ghana National Gas Company.
Fifthly “the trial court erred when it failed to evaluate the want or lack of the recommendation by the Governing Board of the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) in the appointment of Morrison & Associates to audit the activities of the Ghana National Gas Company”.
