ECOWAS Court upholds sack of 3 Ghanaian Supreme Court justices
By Andrew Orolua, Abuja
The Community Court of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) on Monday upheld the sack of three justices of the Supreme Court of Ghana.
The justices – Paul Uuter Dery, Mustapha Habib Logoh and Gilbert Ayisi Addo, were among over 30 judges secretly filmed while allegedly accepting bribes in an undercover investigation carried out in 2015 by journalist, Anas Aremeyaw Anas,
In a judgment delivered in Abuja, a three-man panel of the ECOWAS Court dismissed the suit, marked: ECW/CCJ/APP/42/16 filed by the sacked justices and held that it was unmeritorious.
In the judgment read by Justice Dupe Atoki, the court held that the applicants failed to prove that their rights were violated in the process leading to the disciplinary action taken against them by Ghana Judicial Council.
It further held that although the secret filming of the justices in their offices without their consent, amounts to interference with their rights to privacy, the interference was justifiable as it was meant to expose unlawful conducts by public officers.
The court upheld the argument by the state of Ghana, to the effect that the secret filming of the justices was supported by Article 1(1) (b) of the Whistle Blower Act of Ghana and Section 61 of the Data Protection Act of Ghana.
It found that the applicants right to privacy was interfered with by the secret filming of their activities by Anas, but went further to hold that the interference, being premised on national legislation is in compliance with the law.
The court noted that as judges, who did not deny knowledge or ignorance of the law, they ought to know that their conduct would be subjected to scrutiny as public officers and further agreed with the state of Ghana that, in engaging in the alleged act of accepting bribes, the applicants ought to know that they would be open to secret investigation.
The court held that the interference with the applicants right to privacy, aimed at exposing the commission of a crime, was justified and necessary in a democratic society.
It said the applicants by their position as judges, are public officers, who receive public funds and in that capacity are accountable to the public and could be subjected to investigation, where there is reasonable suspicion of their involvement in the commission of a crime.
The three justices were suspended in 2016 by the Ghana Judicial Council while a committee set up by the Chief Justice, Justice Sophia Akuffo, investigated a petition written against them by Anas and his company, Tiger Eye PI Limited.
While on suspension, they were placed on half salaries and at the conclusion of its investigation, the committee recommended their removal, which the Ghanaian President approved in December 2018.
