situations with constitutional consequences should be given priority – CDD to Supreme Court

The Director of Advocacy and Policy Engagement at the Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana), Dr. Kojo Asante, has called on the Supreme Court to treat cases with constitutional implications with urgency.

Speaking on the Big Issue on Citi TV on Saturday, June 3, Dr. Asante emphasized the importance of the Supreme Court giving equal attention and acting swiftly on politically sensitive cases as well as cases that involve constitutional constraints.

Dr. Asante also highlighted that treating such cases with alacrity would send a strong signal about the intentions of the framers of the Constitution and the need to protect constitutional principles.

“I think the Supreme Court just as it takes other political cases seriously and acts with alacrity should take these constitutionally restrained issues very important because it sends a signal to anybody that holds the office what the framers of the constitution intended and what we need to protect.

“One of greatest challenges we have is that in most cases when u sue the state you have to make the attorney general a respondent in the case and in most cases depending on where the attorney general’s focus is, you will get a quick response or a delayed response and in these cases that take very long, the response from the attorney general is very slow and it affected the court’s ability to respond.”

These remarks from Dr. Asante follow a recent unanimous decision by the Supreme Court declaring unconstitutional the directive from the Presidency that mandated former Auditor General, Daniel Domelovo, to proceed on leave.

The court also deemed the President’s appointment of an Acting Auditor General while a substantive Auditor-General was in office as unconstitutional.

In July 2020, the Presidency instructed Mr. Domelevo to take leave based on records and documents indicating that his date of birth was June 1, 1960.

Mr. Domelevo, however, contested this as unlawful, leading to an extension of his leave from 123 to 167 days, effective July 1, 2020