A fellow at the Ghana Center for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana), Professor Stephen Kwaku Asare, popularly known as Kwaku Azar, has criticized the Supreme Court for delaying in adjudicating sensitive cases.
He suggested that the Supreme Court should establish an intelligent case management system to enable it to adjudicate cases that are of public interest in a timely manner.
Kwaku Azar made the remark following a ruling by the Supreme Court against President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s decision to force former Auditor-General, Daniel Yao Domelevo, to embark on an extended leave.
In 2020, Domelevo was compelled by the presidency to take 169 working days of accumulated leave.
However, the Supreme Court in its May 31 ruling described the directive as null and void.
Reacting to this on the Point of View on Citi TV, hosted by Bernard Avle, Kwaku Azar asserted that certain cases, if not adjudicated by the Supreme Court in a timely manner, will lose their time value.
“I think our Supreme Court sometimes plays with our Constitution because they are not reading and enforcing the Constitution the way it’s supposed to be enforced. I wish they will have an intelligent case management system that will allow them adjudicate cases, such that cases are not being robbed of their time value. These cases are time-sensitive, if you don’t decide timely enough, then who cares what you say,” the legal crusader advocated.
He lamented the delay by the Supreme Court in adjudicating Domelevo’s case in a timely manner.
“I initiated the first suit in the Domelevo’s case and I was stunned. Because I asked for an injunction, not only did they deny the injunction, on the very day that I was asking for injunction, the Supreme court was hearing a different case from the deputy auditor general. I withdrew the case, I felt the court was not serious about its responsibilities,” Prof. Kwaku Asare recounted.
He stated that it will be “completely useless if somebody is facing a death sentence on June 30, and he goes to the Supreme Court on June 15, and says he wants the court to hear the trial case. And the Supreme Court doesn’t hear the case, but the guy is executed on June 30, what will be the point of coming to tell us next year that the execution was unlawful”.
