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How Tsatsu Tsikata and Nana Akuffo Addo Teamed Up against the Attorney General in 1979 - Episode 1

Feature Article How Tsatsu Tsikata and Nana Akuffo Addo Teamed Up against the Attorney General in 1979 - Episode 1
MAY 6, 2021 LISTEN

The essence of this article is not only the jurisprudential and politico- historical lessons it presents but also to advise the youthful masses or partisan political fanatics at the grassroots in Ghana. The advice to the young electorates is that the high-level politicians they (youthful masses) support and even fight to kill for are themselves (politicians) not enemies per se. They only play perceived inimical differences to the public gallery sometimes.

The article recounts the legal collaboration between Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo Addo (now President) and Tsatsu Tsikata in 1979 against Mr. Joe Reindorf, the Attorney General in the Liman Administration and Rt. Hon. Jacob Hackenbug Griffiths-Randolph, the Speaker of the 1979 Parliament of Ghana. The case is known as Tuffuor v. Attorney-General (1980) GLR 634 and it relates to appointment of Chief Justice under the 1979 Constitution. Nana Addo and Tsatsu Tsikata defended the plaintiff, Dr. Tuffuor.

However, it should not be lost on readers that Nana Akuffo Addo later became Attorney General in the Kufuor Administration. In 2001, Nana Addo started prosecuting Tsatsu Tsikata until the Fast-Track High Court jailed Tsatsu for five years on June 18, 2008. Tsatsu's offence was that he caused wilful financial loss to the State when he was the CEO of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC).

President Kufuor later gave Tsatsu a presidential pardon, but Tsatsu rejected it with a handwritten letter saying, “…I have never sought, and I do not need your pretence of mercy. Justice is my quest, and I will pursue that quest in accordance with the Constitution and the laws of Ghana…” Even that, Tsatsu said publicly later that he did not hate President Kufuor and President Akuffo Addo (then Attorney General) for causing his imprisonment.

Tsatsu appealed his imprisonment at the Court of Appeal, won in November 2016 and walked a free man. The Court of Appeal ruled unanimously that the High Court failed to give Tsatsu a “fair opportunity to defend himself.”

The 1979 Constitution and the Appointment of Chief Justice

On September 24, 1979, the Third Republican Constitution came into force. The Leader of the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC), Flt. Lt. Jerry Rawlings assented to the Constitution on September 18, 1979 and it was gazetted accordingly.

Having won the 1979 Presidential Elections with 62% in a run-off on July 9, 1979, Dr. Hilla Limann became President of the Third Republic of Ghana.

Prior to the coming into force of the 1979 Constitution on 24th September 1979, Justice Fredrick Kwasi Apaloo was already appointed Chief Justice in 1977 by the Supreme Military Council (SMC) Administration and he was serving in that capacity. Effectively, he was President of the Supreme Court and Head of the Judicial Service. It would be recalled that in 1972, the SMC overthrew the Busia Administration and the 1969 Constitution.

Two Clauses (8 and 9) of Article 127 of the 1979 (Third Republican) Constitution jointly provided that a person holding office as a Justice of the Superior Court of Judicature immediately before the coming into force of the Constitution shall be deemed to have been appointed in that capacity under the Constitution. The person's appointment would, therefore, take effect from the date the Constitution came into force. The person was to continue holding office as such. However, the person must subscribe to the oath of allegiance and the judicial oath provided in the Second Schedule of the 1979 Constitution.

Clauses 8 and 9 of Article 127 of the 1979 Constitution cited above, therefore, applied to Justice Apaloo's position as the Chief Justice of Ghana prior to the coming into force of the 1979 Constitution. In effect, he should have continued serving so as the Constitution clearly provided.

Contrary to the stipulated provisions of the Constitution, 1979 (Article 127), some members of the ruling People's National Party (PNP) had a diabolical plan to remove Justice Apaloo, the incumbent Chief Justice (CJ) from office. According to that diabolical plan and in contravention of the Constitution, President Hilla Limann nominated Justice Apaloo as CJ candidate and the Appointment Committee of Parliament consequently vetted him for a position, he had already occupied for two years. Having vetted Justice Apaloo, Parliament rejected his nomination as CJ under the 1979 Constitution. In effect, Parliament found Justice Apaloo unworthy to be Chief Justice under the new Constitution. This meant that Justice Apaloo would cease to hold office as CJ. Note that in the 1979 Parliament, the PNP MPs occupied 71 out of the 140 seats so they were in the majority. Justice Apaloo's nomination and rejection generated extensive and lengthy national debate. Note that it was the total number (140) of MPs in the 1979 Parliament that later informed Article 93 (1) of the 1992 Constitution, which states, “There shall be a Parliament of Ghana which shall consist of not less than one hundred and forty (140) elected members.”

The Court Case (Tuffuor v. Attorney-General) in which Nana Addo and Tsikata Defended the Plaintiff (Dr. Amoako Tuffuor)

Dr. Kwame Amoako Tuffuor, a Ghanaian citizen and a Senior Lecturer of University of Science and Technology (now Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology) was displeased with the PNP Administration's machinations to oust Justice Apaloo from office. Accordingly, Dr. Tuffuor took the matter (nomination, vetting and rejection of Justice Apaloo as CJ) to the Supreme Court for determination. He went to court upon the strength of Article 118 (1) (a) of the 1979 Constitution which clothed the Supreme Court with the original jurisdiction to the exclusion of all other Courts, “in all matters relating to the enforcement or interpretation of any provision of the Constitution.” Tuffuor wanted the Court to interpret the provisions of the Constitution, 1979 relating to the appointment of CJ especially Article 127 (8) and (9) of the Constitution. It would be recalled that Dr. Amoako Tuffuor was later appointed the Coordinator of the School Feeding Programme in the J.A. Kufuor Administration. Dr. Amoako Tuffuor died on January 21, 2021.

In the Tuffour v. Attorney-General case, the Court of Appeal sat as the Supreme Court. The panel included Justices E.N.P. Sowah (who would later succeed Justice Apaloo as Chief Justice in 1986), V.C.R.A.C Crabbe, G.S. Lassey, George Francois and Kwadwo Agyei Agyepong (one of the three Judges murdered on June 30, 1982).

In constituting the Supreme Court panel for Tuffuor v. Attorney-General case, Justice Agyepong came from the High Court, Justices Lassey and Francois were from the Court of Appeal to join their brothers, Justices Sowah and Crabbe. Justice Sowah was the Presiding Judge.

As indicated earlier, Tuffuor's legal team was Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo Addo (now President of Ghana) and Lawyer Tsatsu Tsikata. It would be recalled that Tsatsu Tsikata was later an opponent Counsel to Nana Addo's Legal Counsels in the 2012 and 2020 Presidential Election Petitions determined by the Supreme Court of Ghana in 2013 and 2021 respectively. Yes, the two legal brains once teamed up against the Attorney General (Mr Joe Reindorf) his Deputy, A.L Djabatey). Episode 2 will touch on the trial and decision of the Court.

~Asante Sana~
Author: Philip Afeti Korto
Email: [email protected]

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