[2013]DLSC6620 • August 15, 2013 • Supreme Court •
THE REPUBLIC vs. MICHAEL CONDUAH EX-PARTE: SUPI GEORGE ASMAH
The case arose from an interim injunction granted by the High Court, Cape Coast, restraining the appellant, Michael Conduah, from exercising public functions as Omanhene pending determination of his status by the Judicial Committee of the Central Regional House of Chiefs. The injunction was granted without a preceding writ of summons. The appellant was convicted for contempt for breaching this injunction. The injunction and subsequent contempt proceedings were challenged on grounds including jurisdiction and procedural irregularities.
read moreAKAMBA, J.S.C. This appeal is against the judgment of the Court of Appeal, Cape Coast delivered on the 7th day of December 2011, convicting the respondent/appellant (herein after referred to simply as appellant) for contempt. This case from its inception clearly demonstrates the deplorable handling of an interlocutory application by the High Court, Cape Coast pending before it without recourse to the rules of court. The result is the clear case of a comedy of errors compounded also by poor representation especially from the appellant’s camp. The fact situation is reminiscent of what occasioned my respected and able brother Dotse, JSC to lament in the case of The Republic vs Edward Acquaye, Ex Parte Charles Essel, in Civil Appeal No J4/11/2008 of 10th December 2008 thus: “This case is a classic example of how a small issue can be glossed over by an over zealous litigant and thereby introduce diversionary and irrelevant matters into the main body of the case.” In the end the re...