IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF JUDICATURE, IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE (GENERAL JURISDICTION 9) HELD IN ACCRA ON WEDNESDAY THE 17TH DAY OF JULY 2024, BEFORE HER LADYSHIP JUSTICE AUDREY KOCUVIE-TAY, JUSTICE OF THE HIGH COURT
SUIT NO: GJ/0113/2019
PROF. EDWARD DUA AGYEMAN ….. PLAINTIFF
VS
JOHNSON ASIEDU NKETIA ….. DEFENDANT
PARTIES: PLAINTIFF-PRESENT
DEFENDANT-ABSENT
COUNSEL: GARY NIMAKO MARFO WITH MICHAEL OWUSU FOR THE PLAINTIFF – PRESENT SAMUEL CODJOE FOR DEFENDANT WITH TONNY NYARKO ACHEAMPONG – PRESENT
DEFENDANT OPENS DEFENCE
EVIDENCE IN CHIEF OF PROF. KWAMENA AHWOI, DW1
SOB IN ENGLISH
- What is your name?
- Kwamena Ahwoi.
- Where do you live?
- No. 27 Mercas Crescent, Regimanuel Estate, Diamond Hill Gate 2, off Spintex Road, Ledzekuku,
- Where do you work?
- I am a pensioner.
- If you say you are pensioner, where were you working?
- Immediately before I went on pension, I was a Professor of Governance at the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration.
- Prior to that, where were you working?
- I had worked as a Minister of State at the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Planning, Regional Economic Cooperation and Integration. Prior to that, I had worked with the PNDC government. First as a member of the Citizens Vetting Committee and then as the PNDC secretariat itself and as the PNDC secretary for Local Government.
- You know plaintiff?
- Yes I do.
- And you know why you are in court?
- Yes I do.
- Why are you in court?
- I read in the newspapers that plaintiff had sued Mr. Johnson Asiedu Nketia and one of the grounds of the action was that Mr. Asiedu Nketia had said that the plaintiff has once been banned from practicing as an accountant in Ghana and that that statement was false, I knew that the statement was true so I offered to give evidence on behalf of Mr. Johnson Asiedu Nketia.
- On the 6th day of November 2019, you gave a witness statement in this case, have a look and see whether this is the witness statement you gave for purposes of this case?
- Yes your ladyship this is the statement that I wrote bearing my signature.
- You want to rely on the witness statement?
- Yes your ladyship.
By Court: Any objection.
Plaintiff’s Counsel: My lady we have no objection to any of the paragraphs
Defense Counsel: We pray that the court adopts the witness statement filed on the 6th day of November 2019 as his evidence in chief.
By Court: The witness statement is hereby adopted as the evidence in chief of the witness.
END OF EVIDENCE CHIEF
CROSS-EXAMINATION BY PLAINTIFF’S COUNSEL
- Do you have a background in law?
- Yes my lady.
- Can you tell this court your highest level in legal education?
- I have a Bachelor of Civil Law from Oxford University.
- You have told this court that you read in the newspaper that the plaintiff had sued the defendant in this court and among others you are here to testify that it is true that the plaintiff was banned from practice accounting in Ghana and you knew that statement to be true and that is why you are here, correct?
- That is correct. Apart from the bit about hearing on radio, I said I read it in the newspaper.
- Please tell this court the plaintiff was banned by which organization in Ghana from practicing his profession as an accountant?
- He was banned by the Ghana Institute of Chartered Accountants as it was then called.
- As somebody who has knowledge in legal education, did you bring any documentary evidence to support your assertion that the plaintiff was banned by the Ghana Institute of Chartered Accountants in this court?
- No.
- You have indicated in your witness statement that you were a member of the Citizens Vetting Committee, correct?
- That is correct your ladyship.
- You have indicated a membership of the said Citizens Vetting Committee in paragraph 4 of your witness statement, correct?
- That is correct. But the key word is that I said it “Included”. So there were others.
- Which of these personalities mentioned in paragraph 4 of your witness statement was a professional accountant as at 1982?
- To the best of my knowledge, Oko Neequaye Djani was and there is one who I did not mention because he is dead, Mr. Joseph Godson Amamoo.
- I am putting it to you that Oko Neequaye Djani as at 1982 during the sitting of the Citizens Vetting Committee (CVC) was not a qualified accountant until 1985?
- You are telling me.
- I am further putting it to you that none of the membership of the CVC including your chairman was a professional accountant as at the hearing in 1982?
- Again you are telling me. I have indicated that the chairman was and is a lawyer and also an army officer.
- The CVC hearing, was it recorded?
- It was recorded.
- The CVC hearing, did the Committee publish its findings and report in respect of the hearing that was conducted?
- The procedure was the findings and report of the CVC to the PNDC. If by publication you mean publication to a third party, then yes, it was published because it was submitted to the PNDC which was a third party as between the committee and the witness who appeared before it. So it was published.
- Did the Committee give copies of the CVC published report to the persons who appeared before the committee?
- No.
- Did you bring a copy of the published report of the CVC for the benefit of this court?
- No I did not. I did not because the findings and the report and decisions were read to the witnesses who appeared. It was covered in the newspapers and what I have with me are copies of the February 25, 1982 and February 26, 1982 editions of the Daily Graphic in which the findings and the decisions that were read to the witness were published.
- By your testimony referable to two publications dated 25th February 1982 and 26th February 1982, are you referring to the same exhibits attached to the defendant’s witness statement as Exhibit 1 and 1 A?
- Yes, that is correct.
Plaintiff Counsel: My lady we wish to tender these exhibits through the witness
Defence Counsel: We do not have any objection.
By Court: Newspaper Publications dated 25th and 26th February 1982 admitted and marked as Exhibits N and N1.
- You realize that Exhibits N and N1 are not the report of the CVC but a newspaper publication carried out in the Daily Graphic, not so?
- Yes your ladyship.
- You have indicated in your witness statement at paragraph 11 that “GICA acting pursuant to our report banned the plaintiff from practicing as an accountant and/or auditor in Ghana and you wrote to the CVC to that effect”, Do you have the letter written by the Ghana Institute of Chartered Accountants banning the plaintiff, to show this court?
- Your ladyship I will say no but I have some explanation. At the end of our session with the client of the plaintiff, we reported the conduct of the plaintiff to the Ghana Institute of Chartered Accountants with a copy of our findings and our decision. We made findings of misconduct against the plaintiff. The Ghana Institute of Chartered Accountants, they wrote to the plaintiff and copied the CVC, that he had been banned from practicing accounting and auditing in Ghana. I do not have a copy of the letter here because the secretariat of the CVC ceased to exist long ago. When I was writing my witness statement I sent to the offices of now Institute of Chartered Accountants, Ghana, I sent to that office to try and trace their copy of the letter. The persons I sent reported back to me that the Institute said they did not keep correspondence of more than 25 years old and at the time I was writing my witness statement this was about 37 years after the fact. As we sit here today it is 42 years after the fact. So it is not possible to get the document. The plaintiff may have the document himself if he has kept it all this time.
- Are you aware that searches has been conducted at the Institute of Chartered Accountants, Ghana as to whether the plaintiff has been banned before and they have responded in the negative?
- I have just told you that I also had searches conducted, they could not trace the letter. In fact, it was further reported to me that there was nobody at the Institute at the time my officers went to conduct the search, who was there 37 years ago when this event took place, so no document and no officers who were at post at the time of this event.
- The person you sent to conduct a search for you at ICA, Ghana, did you put it into writing or it was verbal?
- I did not put it into writing. It was verbal.
- As somebody with a knowledge in law, you want to tell this court that in pursuing official searches at the place like ICA, Ghana you did not deem it fit to at least put your search into writing for the records?
- Your ladyship I was a private individual who had read a story that I knew was false and who was volunteering to act as a witness, I knew the fact to be true. I was not acting in any official capacity to warrant my putting what I needed to put in the witness statement into writing.
- Are you aware that in a letter dated 15th October, 2018 under the authorship of Prof. Kwame Adom-Frimpong, President of ICAG Council and same marked as Exhibit C 1 before this court, he has written and I quote: “the institute wrote to the CVC for a copy of the proceedings covering what transpired when Mr. Dua Agyemang appeared before it. Unfortunately, no response was received from CVC and for that reason, ICAG, discontinued the hearing process. This means that the Institute of Chartered Accountants Ghana has not, at any point in time, imposed any sanction on Prof. Edward Dua Agyemang for professional misconduct”. What is your reaction to this statement emanating from officialdom from ICAG?
- I am not aware of this but what I can say is that the contents of this documents are false. It does not state the date on which they wrote to the CVC. If they did write to the CVC Prof. Adom Frimpong was not at the Institute in 1982. So if he is saying they wrote to the CVC he must have been relying on a document, he must have seen a letter which the Institute wrote to the CVC and therefore would have indicated the date on which they wrote to the CVC. What I am saying is that the Institute wrote to the plaintiff and copied the CVC that they had investigated the conduct of the plaintiff, found him liable and therefore banned him from practicing.
- The letter you are claiming that the institute wrote to the plaintiff and copied to CVC banning him, do you have a copy to show this court this morning?
- Your ladyship I think I have already stated that we are talking of the event of about 37 now 42 years old. The letter was not copied to me, it was copied to the CVC and I have indicated that the secretariat of the CVC has long ceased to exist. And therefore I could not have had a copy with me. Your ladyship what I have said is that I was not the only one who saw or read that letter. The other members of the committee whose names I have mentioned all saw and read that letter. They are ready, willing and able to give evidence to that effect. The plaintiff saw that letter, he may even have it in his possession. I do not know that for a fact.
- You talk about a period of 37 to 42 years and hence your inability to produce official committee report and letters/correspondences between CVC and ICA, Ghana. And you want this court to rely on your oral testimony in proof or your evidence. However, during this same period you are talking about you are able to produce to this court Exhibits N and N1, correct?
- The Daily Graphic is a public newspaper which is kept in the archives. The Graphic Communication Ltd itself had archival material dating from the 1950s when it was set up. The George Padmore Memorial Library has copies of almost all newspapers published in Ghana dating back a very long time. The Balm Library of the University of Ghana similarly has public newspapers dating from a very long time. The same cannot be said of correspondence between an ad hoc committee that has long become defunct. And an Institute that says it does not keep records beyond a certain number of years. They are completely different documents we are talking about.
- You will agree with me that this your testimony claiming that the ICA Ghana said they do not keep records beyond a certain period is not borne out or any documentary evidence before this court, correct?
- That is correct.
- You would also agree with me that matters of governance in this country are matters of public record, correct?
- Not necessarily.
- You will agree with me that National Archives is the place where old government records including land documents and old judgements are kept for the purpose of archival records, not so?
- Yes.
- I am putting it to you that if indeed there was an official report of the CVC, you would have filed it as part of your testimony before this court?
- I do not agree with you.
- Again I am putting it to you that in Exhibit C1, Prof. Kwame Adom-Frimpong stated at paragraphs 4 and 5 and I quote: “ICAG granted Mr. E.E. Agyeman a license to practice accountancy and related services in Ghana”. Paragraph 5. “That Prof. Dua Agyemang has remained ICAG member in good standing since he was admitted into the membership in 1978”?
- Your ladyship may I explain because I do not agree with what counsel is saying. If you look at paragraph 5 carefully it says the plaintiff was admitted into membership of the Institute in 1978. Something happened in 1982, if you look at paragraph 2. If you look at paragraph 4 it says because the CVC did not respond which I have said was false they discontinued the process. And then if you look at paragraph 5, before then I had said in paragraph 4 it says they discontinued the hearing process, then when you come to paragraph 5 it says subsequent to this date, ICAG granted Mr. E.D. Agyeman a license to practice accountancy. If his license subsequent to the date because he already had a license.
- Are you able to produce before this court a letter from ICAG withdrawing the license of the plaintiff as a result of the CVC sitting?
- Your ladyship no. learned counsel put this letter before me and wanted me to agree with the contents and I am explaining to him that the contents of the letter how that plaintiff’s license was withdrawn because if his license was not withdrawn there would have been no need for the Institute “subsequent to this date to grant Mr. E.D. Agyemang a license to practice accountancy and related services in Ghana”. Your ladyship learned counsel is making a fetish of document from 37 to 42 years ago. I do not think that in the absence of document, there can be no other method of proof. And I have stated that in this case, there is another method of proof which is living witnesses who are available to give evidence to corroborate the evidence that I have given.
- The living witnesses you just referred to supra they have not filed any witness statement before this court, not so?
- I do not know whether they have filed or not.
- I believe you are aware that professional licenses such as the one issued by ICA Ghana just like also the one issued by the General Legal Council to lawyers are subject to yearly renewal, not so?
- Your ladyship that is so but the letter, Exhibit CI, was very specific. The letter did not say that the institute renewed his license. The letter said the Institute granted him a license which is a completely different matter.
- What do you make of the statement in the last but one paragraph of Exhibit C1 that and I quote: “Prof. Dua Agyeman had remained ICAG member in good standing since he was admitted into membership in 1978”?
- I have already given statement that the averment in paragraph 4 which is the premise for paragraph 6 which you have quoted, that averment in paragraph 4 if false. And therefore the conclusion in paragraph 6 is also false.
- I am putting it to you that there is nowhere in paragraph 4 that remotely suggest that the plaintiff’s license was, in your words, banned or prohibited by ICAG?
- Yes your ladyship that is correct because paragraph 4 is false.
- So in one breath you approbate paragraph 4, in another breathe you reprobate paragraph 5 in the same letter?
- I do not understand where this approbation and reprobation is coming from because I have done no such thing.
Plaintiff’s Counsel: My lady that will be all for the witness.
By Court: Any re-examination?
Defence Counsel: My lady there will be no re-examination. But we mentioned that we are going to subpoena two witnesses, Oko Djani and Kojo Thompson.
Witness discharged
By Court: Matter adjourned to 25th July 2024 at 10.00 am for continuation.
(SGD)
H/L AUDREY KOCUVIE-TAY (J)
(JUSTICE OF THE HIGH COURT)