Kumasi High Court discharges mayor, KMA
The Kumasi High Court, presided over by Justice Samuel Obeng Diawuo, has acquitted and discharged the Mayor of Kumasi, Mr Kojo Bonsu, and the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) on the contempt case brought against them by some petty traders of the Kejetia Bus Terminal.
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The court held yesterday that the applicants failed to establish a prima facie case against the defendants that even when the application was pending, they went ahead to demolish their shops and proceeded with the construction of the redevelopment of the facility.
Justice Diawuo said even though the applicants submitted pictures to show that the defendants defiled the court and proceeded with works on the project, he also said all the pictures had one date, which was November 20, 2015.
He said the pictures showed some buildings standing, another showed erected pillars at the same place and pointed out that this could not have been done the same day.
In his close-to-one-hour ruling, Justice Diawuo, one point after another, explained how the applicants failed to establish a case against the defendants.
Ex parte motion
On November 19, 2015, Kwabena Obeng and Eric Akwasi Prempeh, acting on their own and on behalf of over 2,600 petty traders of the Kejetia Petty Traders, secured a judgement from the Court of Appeal relisting the injunction case brought against the two which was set aside by a Kumasi High Court presided over by Justice P. K. Richardson, claiming it had no jurisdiction over it.
Subsequently, the case was refiled in a different reconstituted high court where it cited the KMA and the mayor for contempt.
The applicants asked the court to commit the KMA and Mr Kojo Bonsu for contempt after they allegedly disregarded an injunction notice from the court, ordering the KMA not to go ahead with an eviction of the traders and transport operators from the terminal.
