Air Vice Marshal Michael Samson-Oje
The Tema High Court has dismissed the preliminary objection to the hearing of a contempt application by lawyers of the defendants in the case in which an officer cadet, Emmanuel Akabagre, 26, has filed a contempt case against Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Commandant and Commander of the Ghana Military Academy (GMA) over his dismissal.
According to the court, presided over by Justice Agyei Frimpong, the preliminary legal objection to the hearing of the contempt application by lawyers of the defendants could not hold.
The lawyers of the defendants prayed the court to dismiss the contempt application, adding that it was seeking to enforce his reinstatement, but the plaintiff’s lawyer argued that the contempt was for the defendants to show reason why they should not be punished for disobeying the court.
The court on October 17, 2016 dismissed a stay of execution filed by the lawyers of the defendants to hold the ruling of the court for the officer cadet to be reinstated.
It would be recalled that Emmanuel Akabagre went to the court to fight for his reinstatement after he was dismissed in 2015 for allegedly allowing a female trainee officer into his room after 10:00 pm.
After legal tussle, the court ruled that the cadet officer’s dismissal was unlawful and ordered that the officer be reinstated as part of the September 2016/17 batch of officers to be commissioned.
However, the Ghana Military Academy (MA) failed to reinstate the officer, which compelled him to file a contempt case against the Chief of Defense Staff (CDS), Chief of Army Staff (CAS) and the Commandant of the Military Academy Training School.
The case has been adjourned to November 2, 2016 for the hearing of the contempt case.
From Vincent Kubi, Tema