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Tamale, Ghana – A 35 year old small scale miner, Abdulai Sirta, based at Tinga in the Bole District of the Northern Region of Ghana, has petitioned the Chief Justice Sophia Akuffo over what he calls unfair judgement meted out to him by a Tamale High Court Judge.
There has been an ongoing court case between Mr. Sirta and his former employee and Assembly Member for the Teshei Electoral Area in the Bawku West District of the Upper East Region, Patrick Ayaba.
Mr. Sita reported Mr. Ayaba to the police in Bole on December 11, 2016 for stealing and selling his sand (gold by-product) at a small scale mining site at Wasepe in the Bole District worth GH¢400,000.00.
The case, which was initially sent to the Bole District Court, was later transferred to the Tamale Circuit Court.
According to documents sighted by Savannahnews, the case was referred to the Attorney General’s Department which advised that Mr. Ayaba is charged with stealing and arraigned before the Tamale Circuit Court.
The case was called at the Tamale Circuit Court on March 8, 2016 and the accused was granted bail in the sum of GH¢300,000.00 with one surety.
Counsel for the accused, Mr. John Ndebugri, represented him throughout the court proceedings until September 7, 2016 when judgement was given against him based on the fact that he failed to open his defence.
Mr. Ayaba who was not satisfied with the judgement passed by the Tamale Circuit Court, appealed against it at the Appeals Court in Tamale. On February 15, 2017, His Lordship Justice Daniel Kwaku Obeng gave his ruling as follows: “Appeal against the decision from His Honour William Appiah Twumasi Esq. Circuit Court Judge, Tamale dated September 7, 2016 is dismissed. The Conviction of the appellant/respondent is affirmed. Accordingly, the sentence imposed on him by the Circuit Court is set aside and is substituted with a fine of 5000 penalty units in default serve 5 years imprisonment in hard labour”.
But on February 24, 2017, Justice Osei Kwame Gyamfi of the Tamale High Court also quashed the conviction and sentence of Mr. Ayaba by the Circuit Court even though to his knowledge, a court of coordinate jurisdiction had earlier affirmed the conviction and enhanced the sentence.
Mr. Sirta wants the Chief Justice to cause an investigation into the grounds on which the same judge, Justice Osei Kwame Gyamfi, could quash an earlier ruling of another high court presided over by His Lordship Justice Daniel Kwaku Obeng who had dismissed an appeal against conviction of stealing brought before him by the convict, Patrick Ayaba.
Below is the petition:
Abdulai Sirta
Tinga, Bole
February 15, 2018.
Her Ladyship
The Chief Justice
Judicial Service
Accra.
Dear Madam,
REMINDER: PETITION FOR JUSTICE
I humbly wish to remind your revered high office of the petition on the above subject matter, dated 16th March 2017.
In my evidentially relevant documented petition, I sought to pray your high office to:
- Order a transfer of a civil suit to which I am an interested party from a Tamale High Court presided over by His Lordship Justice Osei Kwame Gymafi, for lack of confidence in his impartial judgement, and
- To cause an investigation into the grounds on which the same judge (Justice Osei Kwame Gyamfi) could quash an earlier ruling of another High Court, presided over by His Lordship Justice Daniel Kwaku Obeng, who had dismissed an appeal against conviction of stealing, brought before him by the convict, Patrick Ayaba.
Interestingly, whiles my first request has since been addressed by your high office, the second issue is yet to receive your attention especially so when I submitted the petition at a time when you had not taken over.
Your Ladyship, I am passionate about the need to cause an investigation into this matter because, listening to the comments of the two judges, there is something fundamentally wrong with the processes of the high court which must be cleared to engender public confidence in the justice delivery system in the Northern Region in particular and the nation as a whole.
Your Ladyship, the bone of contention which occasioned my petition is as follows:
I am the complainant to a criminal case which was tried by a circuit court presided over by His Honour Mr. William Twumasi Appiah. On the 7th September 2016, the judge convicted Patrick Ayaba of stealing my property called “Over” worth Gh₵400,000.00, sentenced him to a fine of 300 penalty units or in default two years of imprisonment. He was also ordered to refund the proceeds of the sale of the “over” to me.
Through my counsel, I instituted a civil action against Patrick Ayaba to recover my money at a Tamale High Court presided over by His Lordship Justice Osei Kwame Gyamfi. Unknown to me, the convict through his counsel, Mr. John Ndebugre Esq also filed an appeal against his conviction at another Tamale High Court (commercial division), presided over by His Lordship Justice Daniel Kwaku Obeng. The judge ordered both counsel to file their written submission by 28th November 2016, and adjourned the matter to 14th January, 2017 for judgement.
Your Ladyship, on the 14th January 2017, I attended the court to listen to the judgement but out of the blue, one lawyer Stephen Azantilow rose to his feet when the case was called and informed the the court that he had been engaged by Patrick Ayaba to prosecute his appeal and prayed the court to extend the time for him to file his written submission.
In spite of protest from the State Attorney, the judge obliged to the request of Lawyer Azantilow, arguing that the liberty of the convict was at stake. He then adjourned the case to 24th January for the filing of the written submission.
On the 24th January, 2017, Justice Daniel Kwaku Obeng again adjourned judgement of the case to 10th February 2017 after counsel for Patrick Ayaba on 1st February 2017 even though at their instance, judgement in their own appeal had been adjourned twice. The return date was 7th February 2017.
Your Ladyship, I quickly engaged the service of Lawyer from Sunyani to represent me in view of the fact that I had been served the processes as an interested party with the republic as respondent.
My Lawyer immediately prepapred an affidavit in opposition and a statement of case which he gave me to proceed to Tamale and file. My Lawyer also requested me to plead with the High Court presided over Mr. Osei Kwame Gymafi to adjourn the hearing to 7th March 2017 in view of the fact that he was already committed at the High Court in Sunyani on 7th February 2017. After filing the processes prepared by my lawyer, I informed the State Attorney who was representing the respondent about my Layer’s request.
When the case was called on February 7th 2017, the State Attorney informed the court about my Lawyer’s request and the fact that he was yet to file the respondent’s statement of case but the judge refused my Lawyer’s request and adjourned the case to 21st of February 2017 for hearing. Mr Osei Kwame Gyamfi also made an order to be served on Mr Justice Daniel Kwaku Obeng not to proceed with his judgement until he (Osei Kwame Gymafi) gave his ruling on the certiorari application. The State Attorney raised an objection to Osei Kwame Gyamfi’s order or if he allowed it he could be queried by the Chief Justice if she hears it.
Your Ladyship, on the 15th February, 2017, judgement in the appeals court was read by Mr Justice Daniel Kwaku Obeng who affirmed the conviction of Patrick Ayaba by circuit court and enhanced the sentence.
It is pertinent to note, Your Ladyship, that on 21st February, 2017 in the absence of my lawyer who had written to the court about his inability to be present and the State Attorney who even though had been sitting for a long time in the court waiting for the case to be called but was informed later that his case at the criminal session court had been called, Mr. Osei Kwame Gymafi adjourned the application to 24th February 2017 for ruling in spite of the fact that he had been notified by the respondent that another High Court had affirmed the decision (conviction) and sentence of the circuit court and could not therefore be quashed by another high court. Besides, my Lawyer and the State Attorney had indicated in their respective statements of case that they would raise preliminary objection in respect of the competence of the application at the hearing.
I was therefore taken aback when on 24th February 2017 Mr. Osei Kwame Gymafi proceeded to quash the conviction and sentence of Patrick Ayaba by the circuit court even though to his knowledge, a court of coordinate jurisdiction had earlier affirmed the conviction and enhanced the sentence. Most bizarre in all this is that Mr. Justice Osei Kwame Gymafi openly declared in his ruling that Mr. Justice Daniel Kwaku Obeng did not have jurisdiction to hear the appeal filed by Patrick Ayaba. If that indeed is true, why did Patrick Ayaba’s Lawyers not challenge the jurisdiction of the court, but took date to file their written submission and subsequently prayed for extension of time to file their written submission?
Quiet apart, Patrick Ayaba never appeared in court even once and gave no excuse for his absence, yet Mr. Justice Osei Kwame Gyamfi found it convenient and without asking about his whereabout to quash his conviction and sentence.
I also think that if the claim by Mr. Osei Kwame Gyamfi that Mr. Justice Daniel Kwaku Obeng did not have jurisdiction to hear Patrick Ayaba’s Appeal is true, that declaration should be made by a High Court like the Court of Appeal.
As a result of this background, I was left with no option but to appeal to your high office for an intervention to not only save me from being robbed of my right by Justice Osei Kwame Gyamfi, but more importantly probe into the cause of such a dent on the image of the judiciary.
It was also the reason why I made sure every relevant evidential documents necessary to facilitate an investigation into this scandal were furnished with your high office. I humbly trust that you will give this reminder the attention it deserves.
Humbly submitted.
Abdulai Sirta
By Savannahnews
