StarrFM Could Have Done Better With This News Story

It is about the joint-deportation order to an Indian-born businessman by the name of Ashok Kumar Sivaram by officials of both the Ghana Immigration Services Department and the Comptroller-General’s Department. But the order well appears to have come down directly from above, to wit, from Mr. Ambrose Dery, the Minister of the Interior.

The story is captioned “Ambrose Dery Deports Indian Businessman” (Modernghana.com 7/17/17). The deportee, who was physically removed from the country on June 1 of this year, had been accused of the forgery of some financial documents. The Indian government has a High Commission in Accra, the nation’s capital, so I hope somebody from Mr. Sivaram’s side is closely monitoring events and will shortly let those of us who are interested in the outcome of this case know what they think and believe about the same.

What inspired me to write this column primarily has to do with the fact that the Starrfm’s reporter who covered the event put in very little effort to ensure that non-legal specialists who read the news story would not have to make a double-take of the same. In other words, all that the reporter did was quote barely readable chunks of pure legalese, rather than meticulously explain or summarize the same to a largely non-specialist general Ghanaian audience, the implications of the deportation of Mr. Sivaram, who is alleged by his lawyers to be the owner of an unidentified business enterprise with a staff of 130 Ghanaian citizens, and an additional 30 expatriates of unspecified nationalities.

What his lawyers want the Ghanaian public and the rest of the world to appreciate is the fact that the deportee had contributed remarkably towards the country’s economy and labor development. But the question of whether his allegedly remarkable contribution to the nation’s economy and labor market authorized the deportee to engage in the crime for which he was summarily deported remains to be seen. Actually, Mr. Ashok Kumar Sivaram stands accused of two major crimes, namely, the forgery of some financial documents and the fabrication of a nonexistent marriage to a Ghanaian citizen as a means of securing his own citizenship in the country.

In the news story on which this column is based, we are told that the deportee was a legally documented permanent resident in the country. As to why he wanted to acquire a Ghanaian citizenship, in addition to his official citizenship as an Indian by birth is an aspect of this story that may be systematically and meticulously researched or explored by any curious investigative reporter or interested Ghanaian citizen.

But what is even more significant to highlight here is the fact that Mr. Sivaram’s case is alleged to have been pending a hearing before an Accra High Court, when the Akufo-Addo government decided to remove the accused from the country. This clearly appears to be what the lawyers for the deportee are fighting against. In law, this is called the flagrant denial of due process to Mr. Sivaram.

If the preceding interpretation of the Sivaram case has validity, as contended by Mr. Gary Nimako, the lead attorney in the case, then it is quite conceivable to believe that the aggrieved deportee would be allowed to have his proverbial day in court, even in absentia. But, of course, such an opportunity cannot be expected to be automatically assured, because the government may have its own compelling reasons for wanting to summarily have Mr. Sivaram remain outside the country.

Indeed, the government may be privy to information on the deportee bordering on national security matters that the rest of us may not be in the know about. But, of course, this does not in any way negate or nullify the inalienable democratic right of the Ghanaian people to know precisely why due process was evidently denied Mr. Sivaram, whose lawyers and assigns claim had comported himself as a responsible legally resident alien in the country.

We hope Mr. Dery has some morally and legally acceptable answers for those of us curious to know precisely why the Interior Minister had to ride roughshod over the authority of the Accra High Court before which Mr. Sivaram’s case was allegedly pending.

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