THE REPUBLIC vs. SOCIAL SECURITY & NATIONAL INSURANCE TRUST AND ATTORNEY GENERAL EXPARTE: ERNEST THOMPSON

The appellant, Ernest Thompson, a former Director-General of SSNIT, sought judicial review to quash a Special Audit Report and a Supplementary Audit Report on SSNIT’s Operational Business Suite (OBS) project. He contended that the reports contained adverse and criminally suggestive findings against him, yet he had not been heard by the audit team before the reports were prepared. He further sought to restrain SSNIT and the Attorney-General from presenting, circulating, tendering, acting on, or using the reports. The Court of Appeal noted that the gravamen of his complaint was set out in paragraph 18 of his supporting affidavit, where he alleged breach of the audi alteram partem rule because the audit team made adverse findings without hearing him. Portion of judgment: “The thrust of the application is stated particularly in paragraph 18 of the affidavit… The appellant claims that he was not given any hearing by the audit team and yet the team made some adverse findings against him.”

BRIGHT MENSAH JA: The Supreme Court speaking through Adinyira JSC stated in the case, R v High Court (Land Division Court 2) Accra; Exparte Alhassan Ltd (Thaddeus Sory - Interested Party) (2011) SCGLR 478 that it is a basic principle of common law that Certiorari and Prohibition would be automatically granted to quash a judgment or prevent a biased judge from hearing a suit upon satisfactory proof of breach of any principles of the rules of natural justice. The caveat is, has the applicant/appellant in the instant appeal made a sufficient case to entitle him to such orders he sought by his application? And is it the general position of the law that it is automatic as posited by Adinyira JSC that a party is always invariably entitled to such remedies when he has established his case? This is the premise on which I shall proceed to consider the present appeal. As a matter of convenience, in this instant appeal, I shall simply refer to the applicant/appellant as the appellant and th...