The Supreme Court has slapped Oliver Barker-Vormawor with a cost of GH₵10,000 in an application seeking to commit the Commissioner-General of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), and the GRA as a public institution for contempt.
The seven-member panel of the court, which had Nene Abayateye Ofoe Amegatcher as President, dismissed the application as defective, frivolous, and vexatious.
The court was of the view that Barker-Vormawor, who appeared as Counsel for Benjamin Darko of Democratic Accountability Lab, did not label the application as prescribed by the court rules.
“We do not think we should call on counsel for the second respondent to respond, the applicant in our view has no locus in this matter to file this instant application to commit the Commissioner-General and the GRA for contempt of court,” Justice Nene Amegatcher said.
“Apart from the fact that we cannot commit the Commissioner-General and the GRA as institutions for contempt, the application itself is defective and does not measure up to the practice of instituting origination notice of motions in this court. The application before us is frivolous and vexatious we find no merit in it and dismiss same”.
Background
Filed by three individuals, the application was asking the Supreme Court to punish the Commissioner-General of the Ghana Revenue Authority for going ahead with the implementation of the E-Levy policy despite an impending interlocutory application that was filed by three members of the parliament. The three are; Benjamin Darko of #FixTheCountry, Democracy Hub LBG and Democratic Accountability Lab.
Concerns
The President of the bench also asked how many years Mr Barker-Vormawor had spent at the bar as he raised concerns about how the motion was titled.
In his response, Mr Barker-Vormawor, explained that although he had spent five years at the bar, today (July 12) was his first appearance.
“You are coming to the highest court of the land you just Learn how to title your case appropriately, you must do your homework before coming to the Supreme Court”, Justice Nene Amegatcher said.
Advise
The panel advised Mr Barker-Vormawor to withdraw the application and work on the concerns raised,
However, Mr Barker-Vormawor insisted on moving his application which triggered more concerns from the bench.
The court subsequently dismissed the motion and noted that there was no need for the respondent to respond to arguments raised by Counsel.