[2016]DLSC2876 • February 4, 2016 • Supreme Court •
HIS LORDSHIP JUSTICE PAUL UUTER DERY. vs. TIGER EYE P. I. AND THE HONOURABLE CHIEF JUSTICE OF THE REPUBLIC OF GHANA AND THE ATTORNEY GENERAL
The Plaintiff, a High Court judge, was notified by the Chief Justice that a petition for his removal had been referred to her by the President. Before he could respond, the Chief Justice and Tiger Eye P.I. publicly disclosed the petition's contents and named judges involved in alleged bribery and corruption. The Plaintiff contended this violated Article 146(8) of the 1992 Constitution, which mandates confidentiality of impeachment proceedings, and sought declarations that the publications were unconstitutional and that the petition was null and void.
read moreBENIN, JSC:- My Lords, in this case we would have to answer a very important question listed as relief (4) on the writ and also set down by the Plaintiff herein as issue (4) in the memorandum of issues. The question is this: if Article 146(8) of the Constitution is violated in terms of public disclosure of the contents of a petition, does it render the original process, being a petition to the President, null, void and of no effect? This question has been posed because in the case of Ghana Bar Association v. Attorney-General and Another (1995-96) 1GLR 598, hereafter called the GBA case, as well as in the case of Agyei-Twum v. Attorney-General and Akwetey (2005-2006) SCGLR 732, hereafter called the Agyei-Twum case, this question was not addressed and answered even though this constitutional provision featured in both cases. In the Agyei-Twum case the court concluded that since the petition was published to persons other than the President, it was done in violation of Article 146(8) of...