…As ECOWAS ruling favours Torkornoo
Deputy Attorney General Justice Srem-Sai is under growing scrutiny after Nii Ayikoi Otoo, lead counsel for former Chief Justice Gertrude Torkornoo, accused him of misrepresenting the outcome of an ECOWAS Court ruling that dismissed the state’s objection to the tribunal’s jurisdiction.
Otoo said Srem-Sai’s public comments created a “false impression” that government had secured a favourable decision, even though the regional court insisted Ghana must now file its defence.
“It is most unfortunate,” Otoo said on The Forum on Asaase Radio on Saturday (22 November). “You don’t expect somebody holding a very high office to be dabbling in such matters to create the impression that they’ve gotten what they wanted and that their position has been upheld. That was not what happened.”
“At least he should have been fair to Ghanaians and given both sides of the coin. But he created the impression that the application had been dismissed when in fact you were ordered to go and file your responses,” he told host of the programme Wilberforce Asare.
Ex-CJ vindicated
The ECOWAS Community Court of Justice ruled on Wednesday that Torkornoo had “established a prima facie case” of a violation of her fundamental human rights and gave the state 30 days to submit its reply. The court declined her request for provisional measures but dismissed Ghana’s challenge to its jurisdiction.
Otoo said the ruling “clearly” vindicates the former Chief Justice.
“I keep saying that the newsworthy part is the fact that the objection raised by the AG has been dismissed,” he said. “They even went on to say that the former CJ has established a prima facie case… She has clearly won that aspect of the case.”
He added that the state’s failure to respond earlier forced Torkornoo’s lawyers to seek judgment in default, prompting the court to grant Ghana one more month to comply.
