…Over Motion To Stop Judge From Delivering Judgment
A Cape Coast High Court has thrown out a motion filed by the plaintiffs in the on-going Denkyira palace case, seeking to get the presiding judge to recuse himself from the case.
The Court, presided over by Justice William Boampong, dismissed the application outright when the plaintiffs appeared before the court last week to argue their motion.
The motion, with its accompanying affidavit, which was deposed to by Madam Ruby Lovalace Oppong, on behalf of the plaintiff, Ebusuapanin Nicholas Nuamah, accused the presiding judge of open manifestation of bias.
According to the motion, the judge had once threatened to vacate the injunction that has been placed on the reconstruction of the Denkyira palace, where Odεεfoↄ Boa Amponsam III, lived and ruled until his demise some three years ago.
It must be noted that, the said palace has for some time now been the subject of litigation before the court.
The motion further noted that, the aforementioned action by the presiding judge, Justice William Boampong, among other conducts that were not mentioned, amounted to open bias.
In this view, the plaintiff wanted the judge to recuse himself even though Wednesday, 31st of July, has been set as the date for the final ruling of the case.
Interestingly, counsel for the defendant, Lawyer Daniel Arthur, did not file any affidavit in opposition to the motion filed by the plaintiff.
But when the motion was moved by Lawyer Nanabenyin Ackon for the plaintiff, however, Lawyer Arthur raised his opposition to it on legal grounds.
He argued that, the affidavit as deposed to by Madam Ruby Lovelace Oppong, did not indicate in any part that, the plaintiff, Mr. Nicholas Nuamah, has permitted her to do so.
The motion, according to Lawyer Arthur, was therefore incompetent as it was fraught with irregularities on the face of the law.
Lawyer Arthur further told the court that, since Madam Lovelace Oppong was not a party to the case, she could not have deposed to the affidavit and also bring a motion to the court, without the plaintiff’s permission.
The presiding judge, Justice William Boampong, stated that, he did not force lawyers or imposed timelines on them regarding how they conducted their respective cases.
He mentioned, however, that, a timeline has been given by the Chief Justice regarding this particular case and that, he could not have countenanced further delays.
This, according to Justice Boampong, did not amount to manifest bias as is being alleged by the plaintiffs.
Lawyer Arthur’s averment that, the motion was incompetent was upheld by the court and the motion was therefore dismissed.
With this development, the presiding judge will be expected to give his judgment on Wednesday July 31, 2019.
