The Judgement Debt Commission was yesterday told how the inaction of the Attorney General�s Department led to the payment of nearly GH�4 million as judgment debt to some retired police officers in 2003.
A Legal Officer from the Ghana Police Service, Anthony K. Kokroko, who briefed the Commission, regretted that some of the retired officers did not deserve the money paid them, but because the AG failed to defend the case, they went away with it. According to Mr. Kokroko, between 1993 and 1995, 714 police officers took the Police administration to court, but the AG failed to enter appearance to defend the case.
As a result, the retired officers obtained a default judgement against the state. Mr. Kokroko further told the Commission that initially, only eight retired officers sued, but because the AG failed to defend the case, 706 others also sued and won. He expressed disappointment over the AG�s refusal to defend the cases in court, and that �they could have done something during the trial to have mitigated the outcome of the judgment.�
According to him, although some of the police officers were retired prematurely, some of them had already retired and received their benefits, but since the AG refused to appear in court, the judgment was given in favour of the complainants. Mr. Kokroko said the country would have saved several millions of cedis if the AG had defended the case against them, because some of the retired officers were working on a contract basis, but they all went to court. He, therefore, pleaded with the AG�s office to endeavor to defend cases when they are sent to court, to avoid the state losing huge sums of money.
A private Legal Practitioner, Mrs. Margaret Yaa Ntiriwaa Acheampong, who represented the police officers in court, also appeared before the Commission. Briefing the Commission, Mrs. Acheampong said her uncle, one Joseph Nkrumah, who was also retired prematurely, told her about his ordeal, and she agreed to take the case to court. According to her, after she had filed the writ in court, her uncle introduced seven of his colleagues who had also been retired prematurely in 1993 to her, and they were brought on board.
According to Mrs. Margaret Yaa Ntiriwaa Acheampong, when she filed the writ, the AG failed to enter appearance, so she managed to obtain a default judgement, and the state was subsequently ordered to pay GH�34,000. She further told the commission that though the judgment was given in 1999, the payment of the money delayed until 2003, before it was paid.
She added that in 1995, she again represented another batch of 706, but, again, the AG�s office did not enter appearance, resulting in the payment of over GH�3.6 million judgment debt to the officers.
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