Three victims who suffered varying degrees of injuries in the infamous Ejura shooting incident which occurred on 29 June, 2021, in the Ashanti region- Louis Ayikpa,30, Nazif Nuhu,20, and Awal Mesbawu, 16,- would soon be over a million Ghana cedis richer, for the Attorney General and Minister for Justice has recommended they be paid Ghc 1,218,897.00 in compensation.
Of the amount, it is recommended that: “an amount of GH¢347,953,00 be paid to Mr. Louis Ayikpa as compensation, an amount of GH¢192,425.00 be paid to Mr. Nazif Nuhu as compensation, an amount of GH¢678,519.00 be paid to Mr. Awal Mesbawu as compensation,” the minister, Lawyer Godfred Dame, endorsed in a letter addressed to the Minister for Interior, Ambrose Dery, dated 22 July 2022.
“It is also advised that the recommendations of the Medical Board are implemented, namely that:
- the victims should be offered psychological evaluation and be given appropriate psychosocial support;
- they should be appropriately rehabilitated, trained and/or retrained as per injuries sustained to enable them integrate socio-economically into the society;
- in the case of Mr. Awal Mesbawu, the appropriate functional prosthesis should be provided him to assist in mobilization; and
- they should be followed up medially for a minimum of two years to manage any long-term complication that may arise,” the minister added.
Recall that following the shooting incident that occurred at Ejura on 29th June, 2021, a committee chaired by His Lordship Justice George Kingsley Koomson (the Justice Koomson Committee) was formed to investigate same, which recommended after the investigation that the victims be paid commendation.
Desirous of ensuring an implementation of the Committee’s Report, the Attorney-General in separate letters to the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Health, advised that the Medical Board should be empanelled to assess the injured victims in order to inform the computation of compensation payable to them.
Subsequently, a Medical Board comprising Dr. Vincent Ativor – Consultant Orthopedic Surgeon, Dr. Daniel Osei Kwame – Senior Specialist, Emergency Medicine and Rev. Anthony Kofi Oduro – Director, Human Resource Management, was constituted by the Minister for Health on 26th May, 2022. The Medical Board provided its report after assessing the victims.
Citing relevant case laws, the minister gave a breakdown of how the computation of the compensation was done, expatiating that “Compensation for personal injury is judicially categorized under two heads or elements; pecuniary losses and non-pecuniary losses.”
The pecuniary losses, Godfred Dame explained, comprised of medical expenses, transportation for treatment, loss of employment or business profits whist undergoing treatment and loss of earning capacity.
The non-pecuniary losses include loss of amenities of life, pain and suffering, and loss of expectation of life.
In computing the pecuniary loss arising from personal injury, account is taken of receipts and other means of proof in arriving at compensation payable for medical expenses, transportation for treatment and loss of employment for business profits whilst undergoing treatment.
For loss of earning capacity, the practice of the courts has been to base the computation on the National Minimum Wage.
The National Minimum Wage is doubled, multiplied by 30 days, then by 12 months, then the remainder of the working life of the individual (assuming a minimum commencement age of 20 years and a pensionable age of 60 years) and then by the percentage incapacity suffered by the individual.
Allowance in one case was made for the reduction of the total sum obtained after the computation above by a third to account for tax that would have been payable by the individual.
For the non-pecuniary losses, the principle applied by the courts is to adopt a comparative basis for the award of any compensation, such that similar compensation is awarded for similar types of injury.
In arriving at a sum payable for the non-pecuniary loses of the victims of the Ejura incident, the Attorney General considered some decided cases and the awards that were made for the injuries of the individuals in those cases.
Stay tuned.
