A woman at the centre of a contentious administrative disciplinary decision, says Mrs Georgina Wood, the Chief Justice, deliberately ignored the tenets of due process and natural justice to remove her from the Judicial Service.
According Miss Mamley Kisseih,” Having risen through the ranks and appointed to the enviable position of Chief Justice of the land, the least I expected of her was for her to sweep aside crucial conventions and rules governing the proceedings of Appointments and Disciplinary Committee of the Judicial Council and the pillars of natural justice to take away my source of livelihood.”
Miss Mamley Kisseih, whose forced exit has brought about anxiety, fear and suspicion of the internal disciplinary structures of the Judicial Service among its workers, said Mrs Wood who signed her removal letter was personally interested in her case and that she also presided over the Judicial Council which voted for her removal.
She said she could not even understand the contents of the removal letter because it was full of grammatical errors.
“The sad and interesting twist to this whole exercise is that the Chief Justice in her haste to sign my removal letter overlooked the violation of the rules of grammar. The letter was poorly written.”
According to her, she was also denied enough time to properly access and examine charges thrown at her as new charges were read any time she appeared before the Disciplinary and Appointment Committee chaired by Mr Julius Ansah, a Supreme Court Judge.
“On all the five occasions that I appeared before the committee, there was no representative of the Judicial Service Staff Association of Ghana (JUSAG), a union that I belong to and a right captured under Section 38 (b) of the Conditions of Service For Senior and Junior Employees of the Judicial Service.”
According to her, members like Nana Dr. S. K. B. Asante, Member who represents the National House of Chiefs on the Judicial Council and Mr Frank Beecham, Member and one of the representatives of the Ghana Bar Association (GBA) on the Judicial Council and Mrs Juliana Amonoo-Neizer, First Deputy Judicial Secretary, failed to join the panel after the first day but when she questioned the legitimacy of the panel to investigate her, the remaining four members ignored.
Ms Kissieh said:”The Chief Justice made sure that I was not given a copy of the report of the Committee for my comments and observations as stated under Section 38(f) of our Conditions of Service.”
According to her, her disabled son’s condition had a prominent space in the exchanges between the panel and her.
“I provided proof that I had sought permission to take my disabled son for speech therapy sessions at the 37 Military Hospital but they ignored it. I showed them all the relevant attendance sheets, documents from the Hospital but I believe they still thought that the account of my efforts at helping my son to talk and improve on his cognitive skills amounted to a well-rehearsed Sunday school poetry recital.”
“A document signed by one Nii Boye Quartey which would pass as a forged document in any fair trial proceedings was romantically embraced by the panel as a crucial sign post to my so called unacceptable behaviour.”
Mr Quartey had written a memorandum to the Chief Justice as the Director of Human Resource dated 25 January 2013 and received by the Chief Justice on 26 February 2014, more than a year after the memorandum was written “whiles investigation into my conduct began on the 11 February 2014.”
Apart from the fact that Mr Quartey claimed to be the substantive Director of Human Resource of the Judicial Service of which he was not, the letter was not channelled through the Judicial Secretary as is normally done and accepted in the Judicial Service’s bureaucracy.
The Former High Court Registrar, who worked in the Communication Department of the Judicial Service, revealed that most of the charges were framed by her boss Mrs Grace Tagoe, who had sexually harassed her on a number of occasions and had made life very difficult for her after she warded off her lesbian advances.
According to her, the system prevented her from voicing out on the blatant violation of the right to have a say over her own body and sexuality adding that, “Even if I were not a married heterosexual woman, no one can force me into any sexual relationship.”
When Mrs Tagoe was contacted on telephone, she asked that the issues on Miss Kisseih’s allegation of sexual harassment should be channelled through the Judicial Secretary.
Mr Alex Poku Acheampong, the Judicial Secretary, declined to comment.
Miss Kisseih announced that all legitimate means would be used to reclaim her dignity after suffering an injustice in the House that dispenses justice.
She said if the Chief Justice who has sworn to perform her duties without affection or ill-will and would protect and preserve the constitution and the laws of Ghana, would play an active role in the violation of her rights, then Ghana is not worth dying for.
“It is someone’s private garden and we are the fruits in that garden which can be plugged at anytime and at the pleasure of the owner.”
She declared her intention to form a pressure group that would help educate the Ghanaian public on how to resist both homosexual and heterosexual harassment at the workplace.
“I will also urge Ghanaians to respect the rights of the disabled, seek the extension of the maternal leave to six months and vigorously campaign for the establishment of day care centres in and around offices and workplaces among other needs of womanhood.”
23 Sept.14
This story was written by Samuel Osei-Frempong
For further enquiries contact him on 0206678995
E-mail oseifrempong@yahoo.co.uk
