The learned Thaddeus Sory has penned a 12 page article alleging special treatment to the fixing of the date for hearing the injunction application brought by Hon. Dafeamekpor against the vetting and approval of the nominees for ministerial positions in the Akufo-Addo government.

This special treatment he finds worrying as the Registrar of the Supreme Court in his view ought to have informed parties and lawyers of the change in the time for the hearing of the injunction application and also the reasons for same.

The respected and learned Sory begins his epistle with the procedure for setting of dates for hearing of applications at the Supreme Court. Per Mr. Sory, practice direction and practice suggest a 14-day rule within which a date for hearing of an application is usually set upon filing of an application at the Registry of the Supreme Court.

Mr. Sory's article comes on the back of a letter under his hand and as Counsel for the Speaker of Parliament requesting same special treatment he alleges was meted out to the hearing of the application for injunction brought by Mr. Dafeamekpor in Dafeamekpor v Speaker of Parliament and the Attorney General.

In his article, Mr. Sory fails to speak to the fact of admission by the Attorney-General of a letter under his hand to the Chief Justice seeking an expedited date for the hearing of the injunction application brought by Mr. Dafeamekpor.

A critique of new initiatives in judicial administration

Mr. Sory who is not new to writings critical of the Supreme Court registered his disagreement with the piloting of a Court shift system hailed by some lawyers to be progressive. He again dish some of his critique to the selection of a Circuit Court judge as Registrar of the Supreme Court. He cites inefficiency in the judicial duties of Her Honor Helen Offei-Ayeh as the basis for the critique of an active judge as a Court Registrar.

Read/download letter here

PDF

Background

The Supreme Court Registry had injunction applications filed in the cases of Richard Sky v Speaker of Parliament & Another and Dr. Amanda Odoi v Speaker of Parliament and Anor. The interlocutory injunction application in Dafeamekpor v Speaker of Parliament & Anor. was filed after the injunction applications in the earlier cases were filed by the application in the Dafeamekpor case was listed for hearing, heard and dismissed by the Court on the 27th day of March, 2024.

The applications brought by Dr. Amanda and Mr. Sky, a lawyer himself seeks to injunct parliament from transmitting the Anti-LGBTQ bill and also injunct the President from assenting to same.

The application brought by Mr. Dafeamekpor on the other hand seeks to prevent parliament form vetting and approving nominees of the President for Deputy ministerial and ministerial positions.

Some lawyers have raised issue to the expedition in the hearing of the application in the Dafeamekpor case. The Attorney-Genral in a radio interview has offered his letter to the Chief Justice without notice to the other parties as the reason for the expedition.