A High Court will on May 15, 2019 sit on a case against the Member of Parliament for Bortianor-Ngleshie-Amanfro, Alhaji Habib Saad and the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) for Ga South Maxwell Yaw Atampuli to explore whether contempt-of-court criminal charges are warranted.
The two breached a court order to stay away from a disputed land over which there is a pending Interlocutory Injunction.
The two together with five accomplices including Felix Ofosu Teyi, WOI Franklin Asamoah, Adjei Boadi, Kofi Kwagya and the Ga South Municipal Assembly (Defendants) are to appear in Court on May 15, 2019 over a fresh Writ filed against them by Anthony Sakyi, a businessman in Accra.
The Writ for an Order for Committal for Contempt pursuant to Order 50 of the High Court, Civil procedure Rules, 2004 CI. 47 became necessary after the Defendants continue to dig trenches, erect walls and transform a disputed land into a road although there is a pending application for Interlocutory Injunction against them over the same parcel of land.
The Plaintiff, Anthony Sakyi in his Affidavit in Support indicated that on December 4, 2018, he filed a Writ at the Court for a declaration that the entry and destruction of his building materials on his land by the Defendants is unlawful and sought an order for Perpetual Injunction to prevent the Defendants and their agents and workmen from entering his property.
According to him, whilst the said Suit was pending, the Defendants had entered the disputed land and broke a wall that he (Plaintiff) had constructed.
He also stated that the 1st Defendant, the Ga South Municipal Assembly, after breaking the wall constructed a wall of 20 feet into the Plaintiff’s land on one side and wrote “what purports to be a street name thereon.”
On, April 24, 2019 he (Plaintiff) then caused a Motion for an Interim Injunction to restrain the Defendants from further acts on his land pending the determination of the suit; a Motion which was duly served on the Defendant.
Meanwhile, on the same day the Motion was served, April 24, 2019, the Defendants came to the land with an earth moving machine to begin some work on the land and when they were confronted by the Plaintiff who showed them a copy of the Motion filed, “they snatched it from him and bundle him into a car which had some armed soldiers in it. They drove him to the Weija Police Station,” Anthony Sakyi stated.
Anthony Sakyi said the Weija Police Command upon seeing the Motion filed, advised the Defendants not to enter the land if not they could be cited for Contempt.
But the MP and the MCE remained adamant and according to Anthony Sakyi, they came to the land with a mob and ordered his workers to vacate the site. This compelled him (Anthony Sakyi) to rush to the Weija Police Station to lodge a complaint.
He indicated that whilst the police were on the site advising the people to stop the attacks on his workers, the MCE and the MP showed up and asked their workers to ignore the police and to continue working.
According to Anthony Sakyi the conduct of the Defendants especially the MCE and the MP are willful, deliberate and calculated to render the outcome of the pending suit “nugatory and jejune.”
He stated that the conduct of the Respondents is intended to undermine the authority of the Judicial system and thereby “exposed same to ridicule, contempt and opprobrium.”
Anthony Sakyi (Plaintiff) believes that unless the Defendants are committed for contempt of court and sent to prison, they will continue to bring the entire administration of the justice system into disrepute.
“That in the circumstances I pray for an order for committal for contempt to commit the respondents to prison for their willful and continue disregard for the authority of this Honourable Court,” he pleaded in his Affidavit.
