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SAMUEL OSEI BOATENG v. NATIONAL MEDIA COMMISSION & ANOR

2012

SUPREME COURT

GHANA

CORAM

  • ATUGUBA, AG. CJ (PRESIDING)
  • AKUFFO, J.S.C.
  • DATE-BAH, J.S.C
  • ANSAH, J.S.C.
  • ADINYIRA (MRS), J.S.C.
  • OWUSU, J.S.C.
  • BAFFOE-BONNIE, J.S.C.
  • GBADEGBE, J.S.C.
  • AKOTO-BAMFO (MRS), J.S.C

Areas of Law

  • Constitutional Law
  • Civil Procedure
  • Administrative Law
  • Human rights Law

AI Generated Summary

This Supreme Court of Ghana ruling resolves a preliminary objection to jurisdiction in a constitutional enforcement suit arising from the National Media Commissions appointment of a Director-General for the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation. The plaintiff sought declarations grounded in articles 168, 23 and 296, arguing the Commission could not appoint one of its own members without offering an opportunity to other qualified Ghanaians and that the appointment breached constitutional standards of fairness and administrative justice. The defendants contended the case was a human rights enforcement under article 23 for the High Court, that article 168 was clear and raised no interpretative issue, and that article 296 concerned only quasi-judicial discretion. Delivering the principal analysis, Date-Bah JSC distinguished public-interest enforcement under article 2(1) from personal-rights claims under article 33(1), found rival meanings regarding article 296 that infected article 168, and held pre-1993 precedents are persuasive, not binding. The Court unanimously overruled the preliminary objection, with Atuguba Ag. CJ concurring in the result while stressing that enforcement does not depend on interpretative ambiguity.