AG Swerves Atuabo Chiefs � �Forces� Judge To Overturn Orders

When the Attorney General (AG) and Minister of Justice, Marietta Brew Appiah-Oppong, drove all the way from Accra to Sekondi on Thursday, June 19, 2014, she had one mission to accomplish � over-turn the injunction placed on the operations of a strategic national asset, the Ghana National Gas Company. She did that with precision, but the unorthodox method she adopted to extract that victory has become a subject of discussion among lawyers in the Sekondi/Takoradi Metropolis. The AG filed a motion at the court on June 12th this month, praying it to vacate the injunction it placed on the Ghana Gas Company from further developments of the new gas infrastructure, because of its strategic importance to the country. The court, presided over by Justice Akowuah, had earlier in the month listened to the pleadings of the Paramount Chief of the Eastern Nzema Traditional Council (ENTC), Awulae Amihere Kpanyile III, that Ghana Gas be restrained from further development of the land where the project is sited, because the land had not been properly acquired. According to the Paramount Chief, the Gas Company only came to see him with a �drink� about its intent to construct a gas processing plant on the land, and since then, nothing had been heard from the management. Though the Paramount Chief wanted a perpetual injunction on the land, Justice Akowuah only granted a limited one, which was to last for fourteen working days, to enable the parties sit down to resolve the issue. But, before the parties could meet for any discussions, as directed by the court, the AG had already stepped into the case by filing a motion praying the court to set aside the limited injunction it had placed on the project, in which the government had already made a substantial investment. The case was subsequently fixed for June 24th for hearing, after counsel for the Paramount Chief had also responded to the motion, arguing on the point of law as to why it should not be entertained. Surprisingly, five days to the hearing of the motion, the AG appeared in court, together with lawyers of Ghana Gas, to make sure the case had been brought before the judge for hearing, without the knowledge of the other parties in the case. The AG and her team argued why the judge must vacate his own order without any response from the opposing parties. After listening to the one-sided argument, Justice Akowiah decided to reverse his earlier order for the construction of the gas infrastructure to continue. When this reporter visited the court premises, he detected that the motion filed by the AG was not listed for hearing on the notice board that day. When this reporter inquired from the Registrar of the Court why a case not listed for hearing was brought before the judge, he reluctantly told The Chronicle that the counsel for the Paramount Chief knew the steps to undertake in addressing his concern, with regards to how the AG�s motion was heard. He further noted that counsel for the plaintiff knows the steps to follow to reverse the order, if, indeed, the case was not billed for hearing on the day in question, but on a different date. Speaking in an interview with this reporter, Awulae Amihere Kpanyile III regretted what happened. �My lawyer and I were not informed that the case was going to be heard on the 19th,� he said, adding that they were told the case would come on June 24th and not 19th. Meanwhile, lawyers, who spoke to The Chronicle on the AG�s motion and how it was heard ahead of the scheduled date, expressed disbelief over the issue. �I don�t want to believe the case was heard ahead of the scheduled date. I don�t want to believe it. However, granted this is the real situation, then I think it is very bad precedent,� one of the lawyers told the reporter.