Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, Chief Justice Baffoe Bonnie
A High Court in Accra has temporarily halted the trial of former Director-General of National Signals Bureau, Kwabena Adu-Boahene and his wife, Angela Adjei-Boateng, to await the decision of the Supreme Court (SC) in an application seeking to stop the court from conducting trials during the legal vacation.
The decision has also affected the trial of former Chief Executive Officer of National Food Buffer Stock Company (NAFCO), Hanan Abdul-Wahab Aludiba and his wife, Faiza Seidu Wuni, who are accused of stealing over GH¢60 million from the state.
Injunction
Member of Parliament (MP) for Ofoase-Ayirebi, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, has filed a suit at the Supreme Court challenging the constitutionality of the Chief Justice’s warrant permitting certain courts to continue the hearing of selected criminal cases during the legal vacation.
He avers that the Chief Justice’s directive for the judges to continue hearing some selected cases during the legal vacation is unconstitutional and inconsistent with the spirit of Articles 17(1), (2) and 296(a) and (b) of the 1992 Constitution.
He also contends that the Chief Justice’s action to promote and facilitate the hearing of ‘special criminal cases’ in the legal vacation to the neglect of other criminal cases amount to selective justice, which contravenes Article 17(1) of the Constitution and therefore unconstitutional, null and void.
He followed it up with an application for interim injunction pending the determination of the writ challenging the Chief Justice’s warrant.
Adu-Boahene Case
Lawyer for Mr. Adu-Boahene and his wife, Samuel Atta Akyea, was expected to continue his cross-examination of the prosecution’s fourth and final witness, Frank Cromwell Marshall.
The court, presided over by Justice Francis Achibonga, at the last adjourned date warned the accused persons that if their lawyer failed to show up yesterday, they will have to conduct the cross-examination themselves after which he will discharge the witness.
However, the court had to adjourn the case to August 25 after Peter Osei-Asamoah, who held brief for Mr. Atta Akyea pointed to a letter his senior had written to the court seeking an adjournment to October because he would not be available to conduct the case during the legal vacation.
He also informed the court about the pendency of an application for injunction at the Supreme Court seeking to stop the court from conducting trials during the legal vacation, and asked the court to adjourn the case.
Deputy Attorney General, Dr. Justice Srem-Sai opposed the request, noting that the pending application before the Supreme Court cannot restrain the trial court before an order for injunction is made.
“In other words, a notice of injunction application does not prohibit a court from adjudicating a matter which the court is properly seised with.”
Justice Achibonga, in his ruling, rejected Mr. Atta Akyea’s request for adjournment to October.
On the pending application at the Supreme Court, he said there are two schools of thought, with one stating that the pendency of an injunction application does not operate as an automatic stay, while the second school of thought says once an application for injunction is pending, parties or entities should stay off their hands until same is determined.
He was of the view that an injunction application pending before the Supreme Court to injunct a trial court from conducting hearing is not the same as an application for stay of proceedings which has been repeated based on the decision of a trial court.
“…I’m therefore unable to proceed with proceedings while the solicitation for injunction is pending at the Supreme Court. I shall therefore, adjourn the suit to await the outcome of the application injunction at the Supreme Court.”
Justice Achibonga relied on the same principle to adjourn the trial of Mr. Aludiba and Madam Wuni to August 25, 2026.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak
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