THE REPUBLIC vs. HIGH COURT (COMM COURT 7), ACCRA EX PARTE: MINISTRY OF INTERIOR ATTORNEY-GENERAL NATIONAL TRUST HOLDING COMPANY LTD.

The Interested Party (National Trust Holding Company Ltd) sued multiple defendants including the Ministry of Interior (8th defendant) and Attorney General (9th defendant) in a commercial suit for repayment of a loan advanced to several defendants. Judgment on admissions was entered against the first six defendants. Garnishee orders were issued against the Ministry of Finance to satisfy the judgment debt. The Ministry of Finance paid sums exceeding the ordered amounts. Subsequent garnishee proceedings involved the Ministry of Finance and Bank of Ghana, with controversy over whether the Ministry of Finance was properly heard before the garnishee order was made absolute. The Attorney General and Ministry of Interior claimed lack of information and inability to defend the State's position due to non-cooperation from other agencies.

TORKORNOO (MRS.) JSC:- In one of Gilbert & Sullivan’s satirical comedy productions in the 1880’s called The Mikado, there is a character called Koko who lived in the Japanese town Titipu. He was condemned to death for flirting at a time that the Mikado of Japan had decreed flirting to be a crime punishable by decapitation. In order to frustrate the implementation of the law, the people of Titipu appointed Koko to the office of the Lord High Executioner and pushed Koko’s name to the top of the list of those to be executed for flirting. This resulted in a situation where Koko had to put his head on the chopping board, get up and take up the axe to decapitate his own head, and finding that his head is not there, go through the whole routine again. Suffice it to say that the execution was frustrated time and again. It is this complexity of roles resulting in multiple appearances in different capacities that the Attorney General of Ghana and Minister of Justice has found himself in, ...