A reminder open letter to the Chief Justice

Dear Mrs Georgina Wood,

I recently published an open letter to you on the Ghana internet news portals. It was about the petition made to you by the Registrar of the Judicial Committee of the Ashanti Regional House of Chiefs.

In my letter, I sought, through query, to know on what credible basis the registrar petitioned you to intervene favourably on his behalf, by way of blocking any further court proceedings intended to oblige him to produce any documents in the possession of the Judicial Committee pertaining to whether or not Dr Yaw Sarfo has been gazetted as Kumawuhene.

I raised the relevant points on which an aggrieved litigant can seek your unbiased intervention through a petition. I questioned if the registrar did satisfy or meet those two criteria. One has to prove that 1) the Judge is, will be, and is being, biased, and 2) the judgment rendered by the Judge is unfair.

You will agree with me that the registrar had never appeared before the judge let alone, been found guilty. He had chosen to rather play hide and seek with the court, claiming that the Mampong Regional High Court is not endowed with the Constitutional powers or rights to hear the case of mandamus brought against him. No ruling has ever been pronounced against him on this issue in discussion. How can he then make a petition to you against the court or the judge?

From my conducted investigations into the conduct of the registrar, it has been revealed by an inner circle source from Kumawuhemaa and Dr Yaw Sarfo's camp that the registrar has agreed to scupper or delay indefinitely any attempts by whomever to know the real traditional status of Dr Yaw Sarfo hence the petition he has made to you.

Now that the writ of mandamus issued has been consigned to what may be the legal cemetery, with all proceedings adjourned sine die, my question to you is, and do you support the ploy by the registrar to circumvent justice or to pervert the course of justice?

Why is this intransigence by the registrar not to comply with the order to inform the court or the plaintiffs of whether or not "Kumawuhene" Barimah Sarfo Tweneboah Koduah has been gazetted as his supporters and he, himself do declare?

Please Madam, be aware that I have an interest in the ongoing Kumawu chieftaincy dispute not only as a curious observer but also, as a citizen of Kumawu who desires the best for his locality. Subsequently, I shall query any processes by whomever that I shall find as intentionally implemented or being pursued to delay or to stop the truth from unfolding.

Until you pronounce your decision on the petition made to you by the registrar, there is nothing that anyone can do to ascertain whether or not Dr Yaw Sarfo has been gazetted as Kumawuhene.

Why are some people curious to become conversant with that information, you may ask? The public knowledge of that information will allow those citizens with the interest of Kumawuman at heart to pursue further court actions to stop the saboteurs of Kumawuman from exploiting us to the hilt.

I am sure you and I, like many other Ghanaians, have learnt a lesson from Anas Aremeyaw Anas' revelations of harmful corruption, the bane of Ghana's development, within the Ghana judiciary. The subsequent sacking of some judges does prove to many a Ghanaian how seriously harmful judicial corruption is and why the nation will not lend countenance to.

The action of the registrar to me does amount to judicial corruption in the making. He is abusing his position.

Is there any law in Ghana that permits a court registrar not to release information to the High Court on whether a chief has been gazetted or not?

Yours Faithfully,

Rockson Adofo