Ghanaian Man Loses Japan Supreme Court Appeal Over Welfare Denied Because He Is a Foreigner

Siaw Johnson Kwaku, a 36-year-old Ghanaian being treated for chronic kidney failure in Japan, has lost his Supreme Court appeal against the denial of public assistance because of his foreign nationality.

Kwaku argued that Chiba city's decision to deny him benefits under the Public Assistance Act because he is a foreign national was unconstitutional, The Mainichi reported.

However, the Supreme Court's Second Petty Bench ruled that he did not have grounds for a final appeal, leaving earlier lower court decisions against him in place.

The dissent
Presiding Justice Mamoru Miura, a former prosecutor, was the only one of the four justices to dissent. Miura said excluding foreign nationals undergoing medical treatment from eligibility for benefits was unconstitutional and invalid.

He argued that foreign nationals in treatment who cannot work would struggle to avoid threats to their survival if they cannot maintain a minimum standard of living.

The lower courts' reasoning
Kwaku relied on a 1954 notice from the former Ministry of Health and Welfare to argue that foreigners could receive welfare as an administrative measure.

The Chiba District Court rejected that, ruling that foreigners had no statutory right to benefits under the Public Assistance Act and that administrative welfare assistance applied only to specified categories of foreign residents, including special permanent residents. His lawyer described the lower ruling as bound by outdated thinking.

His situation
Kwaku developed severe kidney failure in 2019 and was granted "Designated Activities" residence status for medical treatment, which allowed him to remain in Japan but not to work.

Why Ghana should not look away
This is commentary, not a finding of the court. A Ghanaian citizen, barred from working and dependent on treatment for a life-threatening condition, has now exhausted Japan's domestic legal route on a question that one Supreme Court justice considered a matter of survival. .

Mustapha Bature Sallama
Medical/ Science Communicator,
Private Investigator, Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Analysis,

International Conflict Management and Peacebuilding. ( USIP)

[email protected]
+233555275880

Sources
AloJapan, "Japan Supreme Court rejects welfare support appeal by Ghanaian national with chronic kidney failure because he is a foreigner" (https://www.alojapan.com/1542093/japan-supreme-court-rejects-welfare-support-appeal-by-ghanaian-national-with-chronic-kidney-failure-because-he-is-a-foreigner/)

Yen.com.gh, "Ghanaian Man Battling Kidney Disease Loses Japan Supreme Court Appeal After Losing Welfare Support" (https://yen.com.gh/people/311961-ghanaian-man-loses-japan-supreme-court-appeal-public-assistance-rejection