Appeals Court grants AG's stay of proceedings plea on Sam Okudzeto's case

Attorney General and Minister Justice, Mrs. Betty Mould Iddrisu

The Court of Appeal yesterday granted a stay of proceedings in favour of the Attorney General and Minister Justice in the case in which Mr. Sam Okudzeto, an Accra Legal practitioner and member of the New Patriotic Party is suing the Government and the Bank of Ghana for wrongful dismissal.

Okudzeto has sued the government at the High Court for withdrawing his appointment to the Board of Directors of the Bank of Ghana.

In her defence to Okudzeto's claim of unlawful termination of appointment, the Attorney General had averred in the trial High Court that Sam Okudzeto's appointment to the Board of the Bank of Ghana by former President John Agyekum Kufuor was unconstitutional since the appointment was not made in consultation with the Council of State.

The High Court presided over by Justice Aduamah Osei, however, refused to hear the Attorney General's defence when the Attorney General sought to raise the objection.

The Attorney General therefore proceeded to the Court of Appeal on the basis that the issue of non-consultation with the Council of State meant that Sam Okudzeto in law should not be a member of the Board of the Bank of Ghana and that the High Court was wrong in refusing to hear her objection. It also meant that Sam Okudzeto lacked the capacity to sue the Government in this case.

In its ruling the Court of Appeal noted that the issue of the capacity of Sam Okudzeto raised by the Attorney General was so fundamental that further proceedings in the High Court must be stayed pending the determination of the Appeal filed by the Attorney General.