An Accra High Court has set May 24, 2016 to deliver its ruling on the contempt of court proceedings brought against Nii Laryea Afotey Agbo, the Greater Accra Regional Minister and John Kudalor, the Inspector General of Police (IGP).
The court presided over by Justice Daniel Mensah arrived at the decision after Sarah Iddrisu, lawyer for the respondents, had asked the court to dismiss the application seeking the incarceration of the two.
According to her, the applicant, Kwadwo Asante Boateng aka Kwadwo Baah Asante, a livestock farmer, had failed to show that the respondents wilfully disobeyed the orders of the court.
In the view of the respondents’ lawyer, the applicant also failed to prove the guilt of the respondents.
Ms Iddrisu contended that suing the current IGP, John Kudalor, as party to the case was inappropriate.
She argued that at the time of the incident, Kudalor was not the IGP and that it was wrong to cite him as party to the case.
Lawyers for Kwadwo Baah, Frank Davis and Emmanuel Darkwah, disagreed, insisting the action of respondents was deliberate disrespect of the orders of the court.
. Davis contended that the power of the court was gradually being eroded by state institutions as officials of state institutions sit in judgement to question court orders.
The senior lawyer posited that there was no ambiguity in the orders of the court.
Kwadwo Baah had sued the two for failing to execute an order for writ of possession over parcels of land which were a subject of litigation.
The plaintiff, through his lawyer, Frank Davis, wants the court to jail the two for contempt of court following the respondents’ inability to execute the judgement he had secured at a High Court in 2013.
But the minister, in an attempt to purge himself of the charges, in his statement of claim, said “coupled with my frequent travels outside the jurisdiction, I was unable to deal with this particular matter because like others my attention was not drawn to it early.”
He claimed among others that the said land fell within Katamanso and not Amrahia as the judgement creditor would want the court to believe, adding that it conflicted with Katamanso registered documents.
According to the Minister nicknamed “Lion”, he together with his Council strictly scrutinises all applications for police assistance for demolitions.
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