The Bolgatanga High Court, presided over by Justice Alexander Graham, has set February 22, 2023, to decide whether the action taken by the Builsa South District Chief Executive, Daniel Kwame Gariba, to “divert” the two Get-Fund projects in his area was permissible by law.
It could be recalled that the DCE last year, in November 2022, was dragged to court by two communities, Wiesi and Doninga, for “diverting” GetFund Emergency Projects meant for them to other communities.
The projects, two-unit classroom blocks, were awarded on 14th June 2022 titled ‘GetFund emergency projects in the Builsa South District’ specifically for the two communities, but the DCE later ‘diverted’ the projects to his preferred communities.
But speaking to the media after the court hearing, the counsel for the plaintiffs’ Lawyer Apanga Lamtiig, explained that the plaintiffs have the right as Ghanaians and beneficiaries of the projects to seek justice.
“We came to court with the plaintiffs, seeking an order from the court to enforce a contract for the construction of the projects in their rightful place, as clearly stated in the awarded contract. Based on the newspaper, the two projects were to be constructed in Wiesi and Doninga, not the other way around. The plaintiffs’ action is based on Section 5(1) of the Contract Act, Act 25, which empowers beneficiaries of a contract to enforce the contract even when they are not parties to the contract,” he added.
The lawyer for the Plaintiffs however added that the actions by the plaintiffs have affirmed the President of the Republic of Ghana, President Nana Akufo-Addo’s call that people should be citizens and not spectators.
Meanwhile, the lawyer for the first defendant, Anthony Namoo, also explained that the case should not have been taken to court based on the capacity of the parties.
“Under the Local Governance Act, a provision is made that if you want to sue an assembly, you must give the assembly 30 days’ notice to know your course of action and see how it can work on it. But here is the case they have not complied with that, so there is no rig before us because there is a condition precedent. So, we are raising the point that the case should be dismissed. But among other things, we are raising the issue of capacity to bring this action, and embedded in that is whether they even have a course of action to bring the matter to court because they are private citizens, and that of the case is a constitutional matter.”
Thw court postponed the case to February 22nd, 2023, and instructed the two attorneys to provide a written response by February 15th, 2023.
Source: A1radioonline.com|101.1 MHz|Moses Apiah|Ghana
