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The lawyer who petitioned the President for the dismissal of Mr Justice Dominic Dennis Adjei as an Appeal Court judge has expressed surprise at the reason for setting the petition aside.

According to the petitioner, Mr I.B. Akwantey, he was at a loss as to how Mr Justice Adjei was exonerated when, according to him, he (the petitioner) was not given the opportunity to be heard.

“We lost the opportunity to confront Mr Justice Adjei for him to admit or deny the evidence we had in support of the petition.

“I believe that the President relied on your recommendation to dismiss the petition and the President is right in law and in fact,” said a letter dated March 17, 2016 which Mr Akwantey addressed to the Chief Justice, a copy of which was made available to the Daily Graphic.

Petition

Mr Akwantey petitioned President Mahama to remove Mr Justice Adjei from office for allegedly collecting money from judges of the lower bench for promotion and opportunities to study abroad.

According to the petitioner, in one instance, Mr Justice Adjei collected GH¢2,000 from Mr Benjamin Osei, a Circuit Court judge, and promised to add Mr Osei’s name to a promotion list which he (Justice Adjei) had compiled.

Mr Akwantey added that Mr Justice Adjei had told Mr Osei that he had finished compiling the list and mentioned that Mr Kwame Osei Gyamfi of the Goaso Circuit Court had been included.

After taking the money, he said, Mr Justice Adjei advised Mr Osei to go and see Mr Bernard Bentil of the Chief Justice’s Secretariat.

“Mr Justice Adjei is reported to have described Mr Bentil as the ‘Chief of Staff' at the Chief Justice’s Secretariat.

“According to Mr Osei, he went to see Mr Bentil and, between the two, GH¢4,000 was taken from Mr Osei,” the petition said.

Dismissal

However, Mr Akwantey’s petition was dismissed because it failed to disclose a prima facie case against the Appeal Court justice and, therefore, lacked basis.

A March 11, 2016 letter addressed to the Chief Justice and signed by Mr Kwesi Quartey, the Secretary to the President, said: “This is to inform you that His Excellency the President has endorsed your determination and recommendation to the effect that the petition against Mr Justice Dominic Dennis Adjei be dismissed.”

The letter, which was copied to the  Vice-President, the Chief of Staff, the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice and the Minister of Communications, was in response to an earlier letter sent by Mrs Justice Georgina Theodora Wood on February 19, 2016 to inform the President about her recommendation for the petition to be dismissed.

Reaction

Reacting to the development in his letter to the Chief Justice, however, Mr Akwantey said he received a letter from the Chief Justice on March 17, 2016 and wanted to respond in order to set the records straight for the sake of posterity.

“I sent my petition to the Flagstaff House for the President on 4th February, 2016 and copied the Chief Justice.

“From that date (4th February, 2016) till now I held myself in readiness with my witness to provide evidence to support and justify the petition,” he said.

He said considering the workload at the Presidency and the tight schedule, he was not surprised that the petition was not acknowledged.

“What is rather worrying is that after the President had referred the petition to your good self, you decided not to set up a committee to go into the matter, as you had done in previous cases, and you also did not invite the petitioner, in compliance with Article 146(3) of the 1992 Constitution of the Republic of Ghana, and yet recommended to the President that our petition lacks merit,” the letter said.

According to Mr Akwantey, he lost the opportunity to confront Mr Justice Adjei for him to admit or deny the evidence he had in support of the petition.

“I believe that the President relied on your recommendation to dismiss the petition and the President is right in law and in fact.

“Earlier in the day, I read from the Daily Graphic that Mr Justice Adjei had been exonerated and I wondered how he was exonerated without hearing. I want to put on record that I believed in the petition, as there was more than enough admissible evidence to support same but there was no hearing.

“Let no one think that I or any of my potential witnesses was being mischievous. Indeed, we had decided to speak the primitive truth to please God Himself. Be that as it may, once the President has spoken, we are at peace.

“The only one yet to speak is God Almighty Himself, the Creator of all of us and we believe He knows everything and at His own time He will speak. I am grateful. Humbly submitted.” the letter concluded.