Court Dismisses Contempt Case Against GPRTU

By William Yaw Owusu

Wednesday, 20 September 2006
AN Accra High Court has dismissed a contempt application filed against the national executive of the Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU) and five officers of the Accra – Kpando branch of the union.

The court, presided over by Mrs. Justice F. Owusu Arhin, ruled on Monday that the respondents, Freeman Adjei, Samuel Jakamanyi, Charles Doe, John Agodoa, and Winfred Kuma, all of the Accra-Kpando branch of GPRTU, who are backed by the national office, did not violate the law to warrant contempt proceedings against them and awarded ¢10 million against the applicants.

The suit had jointly been filed by Francis Kwaku Agyei, Samuel Mensah, Moses Owusu-Ansah, Lawson Asiamah, Raphael Nyame and Godson Ayeh, who are also claiming to be executives of the same branch.

The substantive matter involves which of the two groups has the right to hold itself as the body to manage the affairs of the Accra-Kpando branch of the GPRTU – TUC, a lorry station adjacent to the Ghana News Agency in Accra.

The whole case started in January 2005 when the old executive (plaintiffs) sued the GPRTU and its new executives challenging their purported removal from office following an election.

The plaintiffs then sought an interim injunction to restrain the new executives from holding themselves as officers of the station and called for a new interim management committee which was granted by Mr. Justice K. Abada.

Being dissatisfied with the ruling the defendants filed for a stay of execution, pending appeal and it was granted by Mr. Justice P.K. Gyaesayor at another High Court in August, 2005.

"Since there was a stay of execution our solicitor advised us that we could be in office but we should not do anything that would disturb the injunction orders until the Court of Appeal heard the substantive application which we did", the defendants contended in their affidavit in opposition.

"Since the commence-ment of this suit we have not even taken any money from the accounts of the union because doing so would amount to contempt and our continuous stay in office has been as a result of the stay of execution granted in respect of the court," the defendants added.

The plaintiffs on the other hand contended that even though the suit was pending, the respondents continued "to act in the very capacity in which we sought to restrain them".

They claimed that at the time of filling the contempt application, the national executives had given their co-defendants directions to conduct some new registration exercise at the station and believed that the action amounted to disrespect of the court.

The judge in dismissing said that the defendants did not fall foul to the law and their stay of execution had freed them from performing their duties.