Apau's Tainted Report

Chroniclers of judicial proceedings and judgements must have a lot to record in the annals of justice administration in the country.

One day law scholars and others who peruse our history books especially on justice administration would marvel at how people could ignore the importance of maintaining their respect and the image of the profession they swore to protect.

Search results, the subject matter of a major news story in yesterday's edition of this newspaper, said it all about what informed the warped conclusions of Justice Apau in respect of the judgement debt commission.

His gleeful indictment of the trial judge in the tainted report and how he did not realise that the shortcoming therein would be discovered beats our imagination.

We are better informed after perusing answers to the critical questions contained in the search request as put before an Accra High Court Registry.

It is amazing how those who were assigned the smelly mission of running down others overlooked the reality of the availability of records of proceedings at the Registry, the source of the telltale details which triggered this commentary.

Perhaps in Justice Apau's rush to finish the task assigned him, he forgot to cover the trails he left behind in his excited state.

We would not be serving the interest of justice administration in this country if we turn our attention away from the flagrant abuse of the orders of the trial judge regarding the Woyome judgement debt payment.

And for Justice Apau, not oblivious to the obvious act of omission by the personnel of the Attorney General's Department, to draw the kind of conclusions he drew in his report, is sickening and revealing about the stuff some of us are made of.

The search result is a direct hit at the integrity of the Justice Apau judgement commission and the report it churned out secretly.

The report is a source of disparaging discussions on the public forum, something which is not complementary to the judiciary.

A multiplicity of repercussions emanate from the self-serving assignment on the part of both the Attorney General and the man who has now joined the privileged class of Supreme Court judges.

We are worried that the self-serving motive of the personnel of the Attorney General's Department and Justice Yaw Apau has ended up riveting the attention of Ghanaians on the quality of work of the judiciary.

The good and selfless ladies and gentlemen of the judiciary, who continue to toil under unfavourable conditions as they serve their motherland, would have to contend with the mess the integrity of their occupation has been dragged into by those who care less about a good name.

Why was the undertaking ordered by the trial judge regarding the payment of the partial sum of GH¢17,094,495.53 not filed?

The order for stay of execution of payment of the balance of GH¢34, 188, 987.06 ordered by the trial judge, dated 6^th September, 2010, was not varied or vacated by the trial judge, yet the Attorney General's Department did what they did.

It is also heartbreaking that payments in this matter were not made through the court for tax purposes.

How then can such a report and the man behind it attract respect from Ghanaians?

Can Justice Apau tell us whether a certificate of judgement was issued for the payment of the balance of GH¢34,188,987.06?

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