M/S WILLYJADE LIMITED VS THE ATTORNEY GENERAL

The plaintiff on 23/11/2022 filed through his counsel, Prince Obediaba Esq. , against the defendant claiming the following reliefs; (a) Recovery of total amount of GH¢2, 430, 969. 37 being the outstanding amounts under the payment certificates endorsed on the writ of summons(b) Interest on the above sum of monies stated in reliefs (a) (i), (a) (ii), (a)(iii), (a)(iv), (a)(v), (a)(viii) from the date of final payment on the prevailing commercial bank rate.

c) 10% cost including legal fees.

The following issues were set down for the trial in this matter; (a) Whether or not the contracts mentioned in the statement of claim were awarded by the Government of Ghana (GoG) through the Ghana Highways Authority to the plaintiff.

b) Whether or not the plaintiff is entitled to be paid the amounts endorsed on the writ.

c) Whether or not the plaintiff gave a notice of intention to commence legal action to the defendant for thirty (30) days.

The plaintiff in establishing its case called one witness and tendered the following Exhibits; award letter or letters of acceptance of the various contracts, payment certificates raised in favour of the plaintiff by the Ghana Highways Authority statement of Bills from the Ghana Road Fund secretariat.

The above-mentioned Exhibits were admitted into evidence by the Court and same were marked as Exhibits ‘A’, ‘B’, ‘C’ and ‘D’ respectively and no objections were raised by counsel for the Defendant.

When a document such as in the instant case is offered or tendered and it is not objected to, the said document would form part of the court’s record and the trial judge would be entitled to consider it in evaluating the evidence on record for what it is worth.

That it was the view taken in the case of ARYEH AND KPAKPO VRS AYAA IDDRISU(2010)SC GLR 39 and AMOA VRS ARTHUR(1987) 2 GLR 87 CA; “If a party looked on and allowed the inadmissible evidence to pass without objecting, it would form part of the court’s record and the trial judge would be entitled to consider it in evaluating the evidence on record for what it’s worth”The defendant on the 14th day of February, 2024 called its witness, One Engineer Harold Atobrah who is the Acting Director of the Ghana Highways Authority in the Bono Region.

Under cross-examination, the plaintiff (Counsel) asked the witness the following questions; Q: When did you award the contracts to the plaintiff? A: 2017 and 2020. Q: And you prepared payment certificate for the plaintiff, is that correct? A: Y