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HON. P. C. APPIAH-OFORI v. THE ATTORNEY GENERAL

June 2, 2010

SUPREME COURT

GHANA

CORAM

  • WOOD (MRS), CJ (PRESIDING)
  • ATUGUBA, JSC
  • ANSAH, JSC
  • OWUSU (MS), JSC
  • DOTSE, JSC
  • YEBOAH, JSC
  • BAFFOE-BONNIE, JSC
  • GBADEGBE, JSC
  • AKOTO-BAMFO (MRS) JSC

Areas of Law

  • Constitutional Law
  • Administrative Law

AI Generated Summary

A Member of Parliament for Asikuma Odoben Brakwa invoked the Supreme Court’s original jurisdiction seeking declarations that the Auditor-General’s retirement age should be pegged at 70 like a Justice of the Court of Appeal and that section 10(4) of the Audit Service Act, 2000 (Act 584) is unconstitutional. Despite the Attorney-General’s concession favoring a 70-year retirement age, the Court scrutinized the matter and split sharply. The majority held there is no constitutional lacuna: Article 199(1) establishes a default retirement age of 60 for public officers unless otherwise expressly provided, and the Constitution only equates certain Article 70 officeholders (e.g., CHRAJ, PSC, EC, NCCE) to judicial terms where it explicitly says so. The omission of a specific age for the Auditor-General was found deliberate, not inadvertent. Section 10(4) of Act 584, aligning with Article 199(4) by allowing limited post-retirement engagement, was upheld as constitutional. Consequently, the plaintiff’s claims were dismissed. A minority led by the Chief Justice would have read an implicit 70-year retirement age into the Constitution via purposive interpretation and struck down section 10(4).

JUDGMENT