[2008]DLSC15016 • June 26, 2008 • Supreme Court •
ADJEI-AMPOFO ( NO1) vs. ACCRA METROPOLITAN ASSEMBLY & ATTORNEY-GENERAL(NO1)
The plaintiff, a Ghanaian citizen, initiated an action against the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) and the Attorney-General, challenging the practice of employing persons to carry human excreta on their heads. The plaintiff contended that this practice was degrading, inhuman, and unconstitutional, violating articles 1, 15, and 2 of the 1992 Constitution. Despite repeated attempts to draw government attention, the practice persisted, prompting the plaintiff to seek judicial intervention.
read moreSOPHIA AKUFFO JSC delivered ruling of the court, giving the reasons for the court's decision overruling the preliminary objection by the first defendant to the plaintiffs action. By a writ filed on 23 December 2005, the plaintiff in his capacity as a Ghanaian citizen, commenced an action, invoking the original jurisdiction of this court against the first defendant, Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA), and the second defendant, the Attorney-General, for the following reliefs: "(1) A declaration that: '(a) the act or practice of the first defendant in making and/or causing some citizens of Ghana to carry human excreta ... in pans on their heads is an affront to the dignity of such persons in particular and Ghanaians as a whole; (b) the act ... is cruel, inhuman and degrading and also detracts from the dignity and worth of such people in particular and Ghanaians as a whole; © the practice or act is inconsistent with and in contravention of article 15(1) and (2) of the 1992 Const....