Will the President respect the law?

Last February, Kodjo Hodari Okae, a former Deputy Director of Immigration Services made a passionate appeal to the nation calling on Ghanaians to take a good look at his situation and judge for themselves if the President in rendering him unemployed was doing right to him and his family.


Mr Okae, who was addressing a Press Conference said he is forced to turn to the people's court and appeal to the people because two years after an Accra Fast Track High Court had ruled in his favour, the President had refused to respect the judgement of the court.

Mr Okae said he went to court in July 2004 because all efforts through petitions to get a redress of his situation had failed.

At the end of the case on 27th May 2005, his Lordship Justice P.B Baffoe-Bonnie declared that Mr Okae's dismissal was a nullity and therefore no effect ordering that Mr Okae be reinstated in his old position before his dismissal.

Come May, it will be two years that the Accra Fast Track High Court gave its judgement in the Hodari Okae case and till today, the President has refused to comply with the rulings of the Fast Track High Court showing no respect for the laws of the state.

It was in this light that Mr Hodari Okae in February appealed to the people of this nation to be the judges in this case and tell the President to respect the laws of the land.

Mr Okae called upon Civil Society Institutions like the Ghana Bar Association, the Clergy (the churches), Human Rights organisations, Political parties, Parliament and the Diplomatic Corps to join him in his fight against "misrule of law" and senseless abuse of citizens' rights.

He said the people must judge the President by the oath he swore on January 7, 2001 when he was sworn into office.

"I, John Agyekum Kufuor having been elected to the high office of President of the Republic of Ghana (in the name of the Almighty God swear….'and that I dedicate myself to the well being of the people of Ghana and do right to all manner of persons."

"I further solemnly swear that should I at any time break this oath of office, I shall submit myself to the law of the Republic of Ghana and suffer the penalty for it (so help me God).

The President, Mr Okae said in his case, has not done "right to all manner of persons". When the Fast Track High Court has said no, Mr Kufuor has stood his ground and broken his oath under the Constitution of Ghana to the people.

It has been more than a month since Mr Hodari Okae's press conference and not one of the institutions he appealed to has reacted to get the President to rescind his decision.


Culled from the Ghana Palaver