A rare legal crossfire took centre stage at the Dzamefe Commission yesterday, compelling the adjournment of sitting for the seven Ghana Football Association (GFA) officials who are to appear on Friday.
The GFA executive committee members, who had been invited in their capacities as the chairmen of the various national teams, save the Black Stars, were to enlighten the commission on their operations but were restrained by some objections raised by their counsel, Thaddeus Sory.
Legal drama
The drama began immediately after introduction when Mr Sory drew the commission’s attention to three objections raised by his client and GFA Vice-President, Mr Fred Crentsil, which needed to be addressed.
But after patiently listening to Mr Sory ‘s argument backed by the relevant rules in Constitutional Instrument (CI) 65 and 82, Justice Senyo Dzamefe also used his capacity as the chairman of the commission to verbally overrule him as per Rule 20.
That provision, which empowers the chairman to make verbal or written modifications, saw Justice Dzamefe stating that he had verbally ruled that sitting continued, and immediately retired for a short recess.
When sitting resumed, Justice Dzamefe explained the objections raised by the FA’s counsel, and eventually granted the witnesses eight days to reappear in accordance with Rule 9.3 which gives a witness eight days to respond to an amended notice.
The chairman emphasised that though counsel raised legitimate objections which were within his rights, he could still have relied on Rule 20 to ensure sitting continued.
‘Counsel had the right to do what he did; there are legitimate objections he has raised and they are within his rights.
‘But as I said I could have relied on Rule 20 to let the sitting go on but we don’t want to be confrontational or antagonising,’ he stressed.
‘It’s an academic exercise and we’re all learning everyday. Counsel has the right to do what he did, same as other lawyers.’
Unlike the other witnesses, a member of the Commission, Moses Foh-Amoaning, who said he was not surprised at Mr Sory’s stance, admitted to an administrative lapse in respect of Mr Crentsil’s letter dated September 19, 2014.
In the heat of the exchanges, shell-shocked a member of the Commission Kofi Anokye Owusu Darko asked counsel to calm down since his demeanour and body language portrayed him as if he was fighting with the commission.
Counsel immediately apologised and explained that his gestures were just a way of putting across his case.
Sory’s objections
Making his submission, counsel argued from Rule 8 and Rule 9 of Section 42 under CI 82 that the notice given to his clients was defective and also fell short of the two weeks notice required by law, while their rights were also not respected since they were not told whether they were target witnesses or non-target witnesses.
According to Mr Sory, it was only fair that the witnesses knew the capacity within which they were invited and whether they were entitled to any immunity or not since their evidence could incriminate them or subject them to criminal proceedings.
It was at this boiling point that a visibly upset Justice Dzamefe stamped his authority to overrule with a verbal modification which was to be followed by the written version later.
Justice Dzamefe interjected and asked him to read his client’s invitation letter after which he declared that Mr Crentsil and his colleagues were not target witnesses. He, however, stated later that the capacities of the witnesses might change with time, depending on their role in the Black Stars’ Brazil 2014 World Cup campaign.
Justice Dzamefe also declined counsel’s two-week request and impressed upon all the witnesses to abide by the eight-day amendment notice which took effect from last Friday.
The chaiman of the commission explained that the seven witnesses were not invited in their capacity as GFA members but as chairmen of the various national teams.
‘We just want them to tell us their problems and see how best we can help, that’s all,’ he pointed out.
With the exception of Mr Crentsil who was granted permission to reappear on Monday due to a trip abroad, the remaining six are due to testify before the commission on Friday.
Justice Dzamefe, however, informed Mr Adam Munkaila, chairman of the Black Queens Management Committee that he might not be able to travel with the team to the African Women’s Championship (AWC) on Friday in case the commission does not finish with him.
Others who appeared yesterday were Fred Pappoe (Local Black Stars), George Afriyie (Black Satellites), Osei Tutu Agyemang (Black Princesses), Augustine Asante (Black Maidens), and Matthew N. S. Doe (Black Meteors).
Meanwhile, the Parliamentary Select Committee on Sports will appear before the commission today, while Coach Kwasi Appiah and former Black Stars skipper, Stephen Appiah, take their turn tomorrow.
