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‘The Ghana Supreme Court cannot share its authority with any other body’
By John Eche
In what observers are presently interpreting as yet another test case for the doctrine of supra-national judicial authority in a nation-state environment, Ghana’s Supreme Court has rejected a ruling of the Tanzania-based African Court of Human and People’s Rights, asking it to halt proceedings leading to the retrieval of the Ghc51 million judgment debt wrongfully paid to controversial businessman, Alfred Woyome.
According to the decision by a five member panel of justices, Ghana’s Supreme Court had no real factual and legal basis to share its powers and jurisdiction with any other court that can compel it to halt its proceedings.
Further asserting their national authority, the justices went on to dismiss the businessman’s application for a stay of proceedings pending the final outcome of the case before the African Court describing it as one without merit.
It will be recalled that the African Court on Human and People’s Rights (ACHPR) in Tanzania, on the 24th of November 2017, ordered Ghana to suspend all efforts to retrieve the GH?51.2 million, until the Court determines an appeal filed by the businessman, who argues that his human rights are being abused by Ghana’s Supreme Court.
In a unanimous ruling, the 11-member panel of the African Court, ordered Ghana to suspend the seizure of any property belonging to the businessman, “take all appropriate measures to maintain the status quo and avoid the property being sold’’ until the case was determined.
AU Chairperson, Moussa Al-Faki Mahamat
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