MEKKAOUI v. MINISTER OF INTERNAL AFFAIRS

JUDGMENT OF CHARLES CRABBE J.S.C.

(The judgment of his lordship was read by Archer J.S.C.). The plaintiff was a Lebanese by birth. He was born on 29 October 1930, at Tripoli, in the Lebanon. He has been resident in Ghana for the past 24 years. He came to the Gold Coast in 1956. In June 1976, he lawfully acquired citizenship of Ghana by naturalisation. The naturalisation was acquired under the terms of the Ghana Nationality Act, 1971 (Act 361). This was after the plaintiff had necessarily renounced his Lebanese nationality by birth. He claims that he thus acquired the protection and rights conferred by the Act, as well as by treaties governing the status of citizens and naturalised persons to which the Government of Ghana is a party.

On or about 3 January 1980, a public announcement, purporting to emanate from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, was read on Radio Ghana. Certain persons, including the plaintiff, were requested to report by 14 January 1980, to the Chief Immigration Officer of the Ministry of Internal Affairs with their passports. The announcement was published in the national newspapers on 4 January 1980. On the faith of that announcement, the plaintiff [p.669] handed over his passport to the Chief Immigration Officer. In return, he was given a letter which, in effect, informed him that he had ceased to be a citizen of Ghana by naturalisation, on the strength of the Ghana Nationality (Amendment) Decree, 1979 (A.F.R.C.D. 42). That Decree purported to deprive certain persons of their citizenship by naturalisation. He was among those affected. He had to leave Ghana by 21 January 1980.

He stated further that on 26 September 1979, he was arrested by officers of the Ghana Police Force. He was incarcerated at the Legon Police Station cells. In October 1979, while still under arrest, he was informed that he was to be deported because his citizenship of Ghana by naturalisation had been revoked by the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council. An order of habeas corpus, issued on 2 October 1979, by the High Court of Justice, Accra, led to his unconditional release by the police.

On 21 January 1980, he appeared before the Implementation Committee, set up by the government, of which the first defendant was the chairman and the second defendant a member. The committee declared that the government was committed to implementing A.F.R.C.D. 42, but that he should apply for an extension of the time permitted for him to reside in Ghana. Following this meeting, he