Jake Bungalow Saga: The Battle Isn�t Over - Okudzeto Ablakwa

A deputy Information Minister, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa says the legal battle with NPP Chairman Jake Obetsebi Lamptey over his acquisition of a state bungalow �isn�t over�. �This battle isn�t over�, he wrote on his Facebook wall at exactly 7:15pm on Tuesday, May 22, 22012. He said by implication, �We are all being told to go purchase our bungalows henceforth�, adding that �conscience and nationalism will prevail in the final analysis�. Mr Ablakwa and fellow Deputy Minister Dr Edward Omane Boamah dragged Mr Obetsebi-Lamptey to the Supreme Court in 2009 seeking the highest court of the land to declare the former Minister�s purchase of a state bungalow as illegal. The Supreme Court however, in a six-three majority ruling determined in the afternoon of Tuesday May 22, 2012 that the NPP Chairman did nothing wrong when he purchased the state property before the Kufuor administration exited office in 2008. The Court said that neither did the former Minister circumvent due process in acquiring the property nor did he abuse his office in doing so. The Court said Mr Obetsebi-Lamptey acquired the No 2 Mungo Street residential property at Ridge as a citizen of Ghana rather than in his capacity as a Minister. The hearing was presided over by Justice William Atuguba. Other members of the Supreme Court panel included Justice Sophia Akuffo, Justice S. A. Brobbey, Justice Sophia Adinyira, Justice Rose Owusu, Justice Jones Dotse, Justice Baffoe Bonnie, Justice B. T. Aryeetey and Justice Vida Akoto Bamfo. They said the Plaintiffs should have rather taken the matter to the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice rather than resort to the Supreme Court because the case did not border on conflict of interest. The court also said the plaintiffs failed to establish that due process was not followed in the acquisition of the bungalow.