The Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) must speak on the incident involving the assault of a Ghanaian female cook whose face was dipped into a paste of pepper by Jihad Chaaban, her Lebanese supervisor, at Marwako Fast Food Limited, Charlotte Osei, Chair of the Electoral Commission (EC), has said.
According to her, this incident is one of administrative injustice, therefore, state institutions that have been mandated to handle issues of this kind should be heard commenting on the actions they have taken to that effect.
Speaking on the Super Morning Show on Joy FM on Wednesday 8 March, she said: “This is really not so much of a gender issue, it is a matter of employer-employee issues, and the fact that in a lot of companies and entities employees have not always been treated properly.
“We have laws in Ghana that protect the dignity of all persons, that protect your right to a safe and decent work environment and clearly in this kind of punishment which was meted out by this employer, he has breached all those standards. So, for me, I want to hear from the Labour Commission, I would like to hear from CHRAJ because this is a matter of administrative injustice and I will like to hear what the institutions of state that have been mandated to deal with these kinds of things are saying.
“We need the media to support this to create a lot of awareness for employers and employees to know what constitutes a proper work environment and what the obligations of both sides are and for employers to also know that people will mess up the workplace because they are humans. But you must have procedures which are in place and policies which both employer and employee must know that when you mess up, these are the sanctioning mechanisms. We should rather as a nation use this case to correct the gaps that exist.”
Meanwhile Jihad Chaaban has pleaded not guilty to three counts of assault, offensive conduct, and causing harm after he was put before court for the incident.
In court on Wednesday, 8 March, Mr Chaaban’s lawyers argued for him to be granted bail but the prosecution fought against it.
The court ruled that he should be held in police custody to reappear on 16 March.
<<Print>>