The Tamale High Court has directed the Regional Administrative Officer of the Judicial Service to refer the conduct of Mohammed Musah, a Registrar of the court to the Chief Justice for investigations.
This was after the court found that the registrar was dishonest in the handling of documents that emanated from his registry carrying different answers to the same question on a search conducted at his registry.
The court presided over by Justice Kenneth Edem Kudjordjie gave the directive in his decision on a case regarding the attempt to recover an outstanding debt through the possession and possible sale of a house at Zamigu in Tamale.
The court previously presided over by a different judge had earlier granted an order of possession of the said house to one of the parties in the case.
But the affected party (judgment debtor) later filed a motion asking the court to set aside the possession order because there was a motion for stay of execution which was pending before the court.
The plaintiff on the other hand opposed the motion and argued that the said motion for stay of execution had already been struck out for want of prosecution.
Both parties had documents emanating from the court’s registry – the defendant’s document labelled ‘Exhibit C’ had the answer No for the question whether the motion for stay of execution was struck out by the court.
The document was signed by the registrar and also endorsed by the Registrar’s stamp.
The plaintiff on the other hand had a document labelled ‘Exhibit D’ with the answer ‘Yes’ for the same question whether the motion for stay of execution had been struck out by the court.
This document however was not signed by the Registrar neither was it embossed with the Registrar’s stamp.
The court therefore set out to determine which of the documents was authentic and in the process called the Registrar to testify and provide clarity in the matter.
Mohammed Mussah, the Registrar, told the court that the unsigned document stating there was no application pending before the court did not emanate from his office since it did not bear his signature and stamp but the other document, indicating the application was pending before the court had his stamp and signature, hence emanated from his office.
He told the court while under cross examination that he was the only person authorised to issue such documents and that he has never delegated such a duty to anyone.
Although Mr. Musah, admitted that the unsigned document was his handwriting, he said one letter had been altered, indicating that “…if you look at question 3, how I write the letter ‘Y’ has been altered”.
The court in its consideration of which of the two documents was authentic cross checked with the official records of the day he said motion for stay of execution was struck out and surprisingly found ‘Exhibit D’, the unsigned document was authentic as the court’s note indicated that the motion was indeed struck out for want of prosecution.
He concluded that ‘Exhibit C’ is a document calculated to mislead the court and its contents constituted a misleading state of affairs of the status of the motion for stay of execution.
Justice Kudjordjie in his ruling said the attempt by the Registrar to downplay exhibit D is most unfortunate and can be viewed as an attempt to justify his false answers on Exhibit C.
“In furtherance of his ignominious objective, he deliberately did not sign and affix his stamp on exhibit D but truth like cork always floats in the water. His attempt to put a label of authenticity on Exhibit C backfired,” the Judge held.
He further indicated that the most reprehensible aspect of his conduct is to impugn the integrity of the search done by the plaintiff judgement creditor.
“I also find that the court was misled by exhibit C of the defendant which was a product of dishonest conduct of the Registrar of the High Court Tamale and the dishonest conduct concealing vital information relevant to the consideration of the application.”
Justice Kudjordjie, therefore, restored the order which granted leave for Plaintiff/ Judgment/ Creditor to issue writ of possession of the said house.
“I also as matter of urgency direct Regional Administrative Officer of the Judicial Service, Tamale to refer the conduct of Mohammed Musah, Registrar of High Court, Tamale to the Chief Justice for investigations into his conduct,” the Judge added.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak