An Accra High Court presided over by Justice Ananda Aikins has granted a motion by the Ghana Olympic Committee (GOC) to re-open its case after awarding cost of GH1,000 against the defendant.
This is the fourth time cost has been awarded against the GOC since the labour dispute began in January 2018. The Olympic governing body has been fined a total sum of GH3,500.
It will be recalled that the parties closed their cases in December 2020 after which the judge ordered them to file Final Addresses by January and February 2021 respectively.
While the plaintiff, Erasmus Kwaw, lawyers filed their address, the defendant GOC failed to do so.
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The GOC, represented by Peter Zwennes, on 1st March claimed they had ‘inadvertently’ forgotten to subpoena the accountant of the Ministry of Youth and Sports to produce receipts of per diem allowances paid at the 2014 Commonwealth Games and 2014 African Youth Games respectively.
They therefore sought leave to file motion to re-open their case after which the trial judge Ananda Aikins adjourned the case to 17th March.
After hearing submissions from the parties on 17th March, the court adjourned to 14th April for judgement.
Meanwhile, Plaintiff avers in his final address that the President of the GOC Ben Nunoo Mensah lied under oath when he claimed the GOC had no absolute record of Ghana’s participation in the 2014 Commonwealth Games and 2014 African Youth Games.
The Plaintiff claims the GOC boss made the statement to escape the liability of paying plaintiff’s outstanding per diem’s allowances.
The Plaintiff lawyers asserted that the Secretary General of the GOC Richard Akpokavie, who appeared as a subpoenaed witness in court, presented the respective 2014 Games Reports and also confirmed plaintiff’s involvement as Press Attaché on both occasions.
The Lawyers added that, the GOC Secretary General confirmed plaintiff is owed per diem allowances of $2,100 and $1,300 for his work at the two Games.
Meanwhile, the Plaintiff’s lawyers averred the GOC President lied again when he claimed the GOC played no role in the media accreditation process that led to the detention and deportation of some Ghanaians at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Australia- as evidenced by ‘Minutes of a GOC Board meeting on 23rd April, 2018.’
Furthermore, they argued that the GOC boss breached the terms of its contract with plaintiff when he terminated the said contract without giving the mandatory notice or payment of salary in lieu as contained in the contract. The case is set for hearing again on 27th May, 2021 at the Accra High Court Labour 2 presided over by Justice Ananda Aikins.
