News:
August 18, 2010
The attention of the Hon. Lady Chief Justice has been drawn to recent discussions in sections of the media regarding a writ served on Parliament over the STX agreement, to the extent that the action is being given some wrong interpretations.
It is therefore imperative that the Judicial Service and for that matter the office of the Chief Justice sets the facts straight by educating the public on court processes and procedures by which writs are serviced.
The service of writs is done by the registries of the various courts without the prior knowledge of the Hon. Lady Chief Justice or the trial judge who will sit on a case. Therefore, the assertion that the Supreme Court directed the Writ to be served on Parliament when it was in session is a palpable falsity because it could not have happened. The Supreme Court which is headed by the Hon. Lady Chief Justice does not direct the service of writs and the manner in which these are to be effected.
In addition, at the time the writ in question was issued and serviced, a panel of the Supreme Court had not been constituted and could therefore not have directed the service of a writ on Parliament.
As a matter of public information, we wish to emphasize that has been the practice, when a writ is filed at the registry it is the duty of the Bailiff to serve the court process on the defendant. After a stipulated number of days the docket is referred to a judge for trial to begin. So before then, a judge has absolutely no idea about the writ until it is set before him/her by the Registrar of the court.
It is therefore erroneous for anyone to think or state publicly that it is the Supreme Court, chaired by the Chief Justice which directs the manner in which a writ or any other court process is served as is being portrayed in the case of the STX agreement while it was before Parliament. Had this been the case, it would have amounted to a clear violation of the Constitution and other laws of Ghana and also undermined the cherished values of the concept of separation of powers.
G. A Tagoe (Mrs.)
Director of Communications
For: Judicial Secretary