[1997]DLSC11797 • February 6, 1997 • Supreme Court •
MENSIMA AND OTHERS vs. ATTORNEY-GENERAL AND OTHERS
The plaintiffs, former members of the Egyaa Cooperative Distillers/Retailers Society, withdrew their membership and formed a limited liability company, Egyaaman Distilleries Ltd, to distill and retail local gin (akpeteshie). The defendants, relying on regulations 31 and 21 of LI 239, harassed the plaintiffs by impounding their products and preventing them from distilling and selling akpeteshie on the ground that they were not members of a registered distillers' cooperative society. The plaintiffs challenged the constitutionality of these regulations under the 1992 Constitution, seeking declarations and injunctions to restrain enforcement of these provisions.
read moreBAMFORD-ADDO JSC: The plaintiffs invoked the original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court under article 2(1) of the Constitution, 1992 seeking the following reliefs: "(a) A declaration that sections 3(1) and 21 of the Manufacture and Sale of Spirits Regulations, 1962 (LI 239) are inconsistent with the letter and spirit of the Constitution, 1992 and therefore null and void. (b) An order setting aside sections 3(1) and 21 of LI 239 as being inconsistent with the letter and spirit of the Constitution, 1992 of the Republic of Ghana. (c) An order of perpetual injunction restraining the defendants, their agents or servants or assigns under the pretext of acting under sections 3(1) and 21 of LI 239 from doing anything to prevent the plaintiffs from distilling and retailing local gin (akpeteshie). (d) An order of perpetual injunction restraining the second and third respondents from in any way doing anything to prevent the third plaintiff from including in its objects the distillation and re...