VICTORIA HAMMAH DODGES CJ COMMITTEE

Victoria Hammah

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

The probe committee set Chief Justice Georgina Theodora Wood to investigate the nine-member Supreme Court Justices who sat on the 2012 Presidential election petition over the allegation of influence may be winding up its activities without the active cooperation of Victoria Hamah, the person at the centre of the controversy.

The sacked deputy Minister of Communications even though formally invited DAILY GUIDE learnt did not make any appearance as she was said to have called for an extension to allow her to prepare adequately.

But the Committee which has two weeks to submit its report after its first sitting as at yesterday had not heard from Ms Hamah who was relieved of her ministerial appointment because of the damming private conversation secretly recorded and later played on radio.

The Date-Bah committee started sitting two weeks ago and was expected to have submitted its report by now.

However appearing before the committee yesterday, Gender, Children and Social Protection Minister Nana Oye Lithur who was alleged to have influenced the justices parried the allegation.

 Sir John Questions

 And appearing for the second time before the Justice S.K. Date-Bah chaired committee, Kwadwo Owusu-Afriyie aka Sir John, General Secretary of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) who had petitioned the Chief Justice posed questions to Nana Oye that out of the many women in cabinet why was the only person that Vicky Hamah would linked her to the election petition.

Sir John asked her how many women are in cabinet which Nana Oye answered that they are about eight and further asked why would Ms Hamah singled her out among the lot for allegedly influencing the justices.

The NPP General Secreary asked whether it was not surprising that of the eight women she was the only one capped with the allegation wondering if the Gender Minister had problem with Vicky.

Nana Oye said she was not in a position to tell except the conveyor of the allegation, Ms Hamah who incidentally had not appeared to clear the cloud on the horizon.

Sir John had asked the Chief Justice to investigate claims made by sacked Ms Hamah that Nana Oye played influential role including meeting the justices who sat on the landmark petition to secure victory for President John Mahama on August 29.

The committee which is sitting in camera met Nana Oye, wife Tony Lithur, President John Mahama lawyer  around 10 am and the meeting was said to have been smooth.

She is said to have spent not less than 30 minutes after which the smartly dressed Minister left in her Toyota Land Cruiser through the Ghana Law School exit.

Later, DAILY GUIDE met Sir John in the court’s premises and he said it appeared to him that the committee might be bringing its investigation to an end.

He said that to the best of his knowledge, Ms Hamah had not appeared before the committee and since the committee had no ‘coercive’ powers it was unlikely, she would attend the sitting.

Sir John again expressed satisfaction with the committees’ work and said “they handled the issues well.”

DAILY GUIDE also caught up with Justice Date-Bah who was about to leave the premises but he declined to make any comment and would not also tell if the committee had concluded its work.

Sir John’s View

Encountering the committee, Sir John is said to have argued that there must be some iota of truth in the infamous secret recordings of Victoria Hamah which has come to be known as ‘VikiLeaks’.

Sources say Sir John, a qualified lawyer pointed out that Ms. Hamah made the statement without being prompted; she was indeed alleged to have made the statement in the comfort of her car while having a conversation with her colleague with no gun pointed at her.

In the tape, the embattled former minister was heard telling her confidant that; “… I learnt even before (Supreme Court) verdict, Nana (Oye Lithur) was with the Justices and all that. You don’t know the role she has played for us to win the court case…”.

In the tape, Ms. Hamah specifically indicated that a night before the Supreme Court election petition panel headed by Justice William Atuguba would deliver their final verdict, Nana Oye-Lithur went to ‘see’ some of the Justices.

Incidentally, Mrs. Oye-Lithur is the wife of President Mahama’s Lawyer, Tony Lithur in the election petition and had denied the allegation.

Lawyer Lithur is said to wield too much influence in the Mahama administration as captured on the VikiLeaks, controlling three ministries.

The nine-member committee, include prominent legal brains such as Nana Dr. S.K.B Asante, Paramount Chief of Asokore Traditional Area in the Ashanti Region and an international arbitrator; a representative of the Attorney General; Frank Beecham, a legal practitioner and former President of the Ghana Bar Association, among others.