Petitioner To Invoke Court Order To Claim GH�419,982 Compensation

A Former deputy registrar of the Ghana School of Law (GSL), Mr John Yaw Owusu, has petitioned the Judgement Debt Commission (JDC) over the purported refusal by the General Legal Council (GLC) to pay him a judgement debt compensation of GH�419,982. He told the commission at its sitting in Accra that he sued the GLC for wrongful termination of his appointment and the court gave judgement in his favour in February, 2011. He said the court directed the GLC to pay him two-years salary with interest from the day of the termination of his appointment. However, Mr Owusu said, the GLC and the Attorney-General�s (A-G) Department had refused to pay him or respond to his requests for payment. He told the commission that he would invoke the court order to claim his compensation, if the state continued to delay in paying him. Genesis of the case Mr Owusu said he was appointed Deputy Registrar of the GSL in 2000 and later became the acting registrar of the school. He said in 2003, the GSL advertised for the position of a registrar in the Daily Graphic and he applied for the position and was called for the interview. He said while waiting for the result of the interview, he received a letter that his appointment had been terminated. �Having worked for three years, the letter said that my appointment cannot be confirmed,� he said. Mr Owusu said he was bitter about the development, hence his decision to take the case to court. Other cases The Director of the External Resource Mobilisation of the Ministry of Finance, Mr Kwadwo Awuah-Peasah, also appeared before the JDC in respect of the payment of compensation to the Volta Basin flooded areas. The lands around the Volta River were flooded following the construction of the Akosombo Dam in 1965 and the communities that were affected were resettled by the state. However, some clans in the Pai, Apaaso, Makango, Ahmandi and Krachi traditional areas, which were resettled after the inundation of their houses and farmlands, went back to the government 50 years later to ask for compensation. Consequently, Cabinet gave approval on July 23, 2008 for a consolidated compensation totalling GH�138 million for the various stools and families. Mr Awuah-Peasah told the commission that Cabinet approved the payment of the compensation and the Ministry of Finance subsequently directed the release of the money to the claimants. The Chief Valuer in-charge of Compensation of the Land Valuation Division (LVD) of the Lands Commission, Mr Kwesi Bentsi Enchill, also told the JDC that there was cooperation between the LVD and the Volta River Authority (VRA) during the payment of compensation to the affected people.