YAW ASARE DARKO vs. GHANA PORT & HARBOUR AUTHORITY [2006]DLCA6784

Date	2006-07-27
Suit No.	CIVIL APPEAL NO. H1/263/2005
Citation No.	[2006]DLCA6784

ESSILFIE-BONDZIE [PRESIDING]

GBADEGBE J.A.

ANIN-YEBOAH J.A.

MR. K. K. SEY FOR THE DEFENDANT/APPELLANT

MR EMMANUEL AVENORGBO FOR MR JAMES MENSAH FOR THE PLAINTIFF/ RESPONDENT

[2006]DLCA6784
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													<main id="main" class="content" style="min-height: 60rem" >YAW ASARE
DARKO<o:p></o:p>(PLAINTIFF/RESPONDENT)<o:p></o:p>vs.<o:p></o:p>GHANA PORT
&amp; HARBOUR AUTHORITY<o:p></o:p>(DEFENDANT/APPELLANT)<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>[COURT
OF APPEAL, ACCRA]<o:p></o:p><div style="mso-element:para-border-div;border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.5pt;
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<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;
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padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in">CIVIL
APPEAL NO. H1/263/2005&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;DATE: 27TH JULY, 2006<o:p></o:p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:
justify;line-height:115%;border:none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext 1.5pt;
padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in">MR EMMANUEL AVENORGBO FOR
MR JAMES MENSAH FOR THE PLAINTIFF/ RESPONDENT <o:p></o:p>

ESSILFIE-BONDZIE [PRESIDING], GBADEGBE
J.A., ANIN-YEBOAH J.A.<o:p></o:p>

</div><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p><div style="mso-element:para-border-div;border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.5pt;
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</div>KUSI-APPIAH,
J.A <o:p></o:p>By
his amended writ of summons at the High Court, Tema, the plaintiff/respondent
(hereinafter referred to as the plaintiff) sued the defendant/appellant
(hereinafter simply referred to as the defendant) claiming the following
reliefs: <o:p></o:p>(1)
Damages for constructive wrongful dismissal <o:p></o:p>(2)
Exemplary damages <o:p></o:p>(3)
An order compelling the defendant to compute and pay plaintiff all his terminal
benefits together with Interest <o:p></o:p>(4)
Alternatively to 1 and 2 above an order that defendant computes and pays to
plaintiff redundancy benefits due to him with interest by reason of the
redundancy exercise embarked upon by the Defendant Authority. <o:p></o:p>The
facts relied on by the parties to establish their respective claims were not
complicated. The plaintiff's case was that he is a lawyer by profession and was
employed by the defendant on probation as legal officer on 1st February, 1992
and confirmed on 1st February 1993. The plaintiff averred that until 28th
September, 2001, he had attained the rank of a Senior Legal Officer in the
Legal Department of the Defendant Authority. On that date, (28th September,
2001) the plaintiff decided to resign from his employment, but his employers
(defendant) did not accept his resignation. They contended that he had a case
to answer on his role in the arrest of vessels "MV ZIRIA" and FLORIA
1" and was subsequently interdicted. As a result, a committee was set up
by the management of the defendant company to go into the matter and at the end
of the enquiry, the plaintiff's interdiction was lifted. Subsequently, the
plaintiff was informed by his employers that they had accepted his earlier
resignation. When he protested to the chairman of the Board of Directors,
against the late acceptance of his resignation the decision was rescinded. On
or about 24th September 2002, he was posted to the Takoradi Port as Acting Port
Personnel and Administration Manager. <o:p></o:p>The
plaintiff further averred that his interdiction and suspension from leave by
the defendant was malicious and that his new posting to Takoradi Port as Acting
Personnel and Administration Manager was an act of bad faith on the part of his
employers. <o:p></o:p>According
to the plaintiff, the following acts constituted a fundamental breach of the
terms of his employment contract with the defendant: <o:p></o:p>(i)&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
His removal from contractual duties as
legal officer to essentially non-legal duties of Personnel and Ports
Management; <o:p></o:p>(ii)&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&</main>