An Accra High Court is set to determine a contempt suit brought against Nii Laryea Afotey Agbo, the Greater Accra Regional Minister.
The minister, who is alleged to have been embroiled in a lot of land cases in the region, is before the court with John Kudalor, the Inspector General of Police (IGP).
The two appointees have been dragged before the court by one Kwadwo Asante Boateng aka Kwadwo Baah Asante, a livestock farmer, for failing to execute an order for writ of possession over parcels of land which were a subject of litigation.
Statement Of Claim
The applicant, in a 15-paragraph affidavit in support of the motion for committal for contempt, argued that the court ought to jail the two for contempt following their failure to execute the judgement he had secured at a High Court in 2013.
He stated that on November 28, 2013 Samuel Boakye-Yiadom, the second Deputy Judicial Secretary, in a letter addressed to the Director-General of the Police Legal Directorate, was asked to detail armed policemen to assist the deputy sheriff officers to execute the court order and instruct the policemen to maintain law and order.
The complainant averred that in another letter dated October 1, 2014 DCOP Christian Tetteh Yohuno, the then Accra Regional Police Commander, forwarded a copy of the court order, referring the demolishing of the unauthorised structures to the National Security Coordinator, Mr Kudalor (not appointed IGP then) and Afotey Agbo, advising that “the police have no option than to assist in the execution or else be cited for contempt.”
Contempt
Mr Kwadwo Baah said even in the face of the lucid and unambiguous terms of the letter, the defendants had in flagrant and contemptuous rebuff disregarded the order and no efforts on his part could compel them to effect the order.
The plaintiff contended that the defendants treated the order of the court with extreme levity and had done nothing whatsoever to assist in its execution.
The statement of claim stated, among other things, that “The conduct of the defendants clearly and unambiguously amounts to an obstruction and interference with the due administration of justice and also brings the time of the court and the judicial process into disrespect and disrepute.”
Response
In an attempt to purge himself, Afotey Agbo, in a response to the charges captured in his statement of claim said, “…Coupled with my frequent travels outside the jurisdiction, I was unable to deal with this particular matter because like others, my attention was not drawn to it early.”
He claimed among other things that the said land fell within the jurisdiction of Katamanso and not Amrahia as the judgement creditor would want the court to believe, adding that it conflicted with Katamanso registered documents.
According to the minister, affectionately called “Lion,” he, together with his Council, strictly scrutinises all applications for police assistance for demolitions.
The court, presided over by Justice Daniel Mensah, would deliver its ruling on June 16, 2016.
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