We Can Establish Prima Facie Case Against CHRAJ Boss � Lawyer

Lawyer for the Progressive Nationalist Forum, Samson Lardy Anyenini, says his client spent an awful lot of time building a solid case against CHRAJ Commissioner, Lauretta Vivian Lamptey. He said documentary evidence available to the PNF, which has petitioned President John Mahama to remove Ms. Lamptey from office, are sufficient to establish a prima facie case against the Commissioner. The Commissioner for the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), has been trending in major news bulletins for months in what many say is imprudent expenditure. Ms. Lamptey paid close to $5,000 monthly rent on her plush AU Village apartment for 33 months while over $180,000 was being spent to renovate her official bungalow. She left the apartment and checked into a hotel with her children pending completion of renovation works on the Patrice Lumumba Road bungalow which has taken more three years to complete. Media reports on the excessive expenditure caused a stir and jolted government to issue a statement welcoming a decision of the Auditor-General to probe the matter. On its part, the PNF �submitted a five-page petition of nine-point claims of grave misconduct, inappropriate exercise of office, serious misjudgment, breaches of laws and public trust� to the President. The group consequently demanded the resignation of Ms. Lamptey. It said if she fails to do so willingly, the President must activate the constitutional processes to see her removed from office. The petition by the PNF followed a similar one filed by the Member of Parliament (MP) for Nsawam Adoagyiri, Frank Annor Dompreh. He argued that as head of an institution mandated to �investigate complaints of violations of fundamental rights and freedoms, injustice, corruption, abuse of power�� amongst others, Ms Lamptey could not continue to be in office when there were such allegations of wanton abuse of office against her. Answering questions on whether the PNF�s petition was not redundant, Counsel for the pro-democracy organization, Lardy Anyenini, said his client did not want to take chances. He said considerable time was dedicated to building a case that will meet the constitutional requirement of establishing a prima facie case against the commissioner. Article 228 of the 1992 Constitution says �The procedure for the removal of the Commissioner and Deputy Commissioners shall be the same as that provided for the removal of a Justice of the Court of Appeal and a Justice of the High Court respectively under this Constitution.� And Article 146 (3) of the supreme law states that �If the President receives a petition for the removal of Justice of a Superior Court other than the Chief Justice or for the removal of the Chairman of a Regional Tribunal, he shall refer the petition to the Chief Justice, who shall determine whether there is a prima facie case.� Because of these constitutional provisions, Mr Anyenini said his client had to be convinced that it could establish a prima facie case against the CHRAJ boss before petitioning the president � something he said has been done. The petitioners are now waiting on the president to refer the petition to the Chief Justice, Georgina Theodora Woode for action. A member of the legal team of the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC), Abraham Amaliba, told Joy FM�s Newsfile Programme, Saturday, that the consolidated petitions had been referred to the CJ. But that appears to be false. The Judicial Secretary, Justice Alex Acheampong, says the Chief Justice is yet to receive any petition, a revelation that has left one of the petitioners, Mr. Annor Dompreh disappointed. He urged government to take Ghanaians seriously.