D-DAY FOR JAKE, AS SUPREME COURT RULES ON HOUSE GRAB

The Supreme Court will today deliver its judgment on the case against Mr. Jake Otanka Obetsebi-Lamptey, Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in his attempt to purchase a state bungalow which he occupied when he was a minister of state.

The court had earlier given tomorrow as the day for the judgment but had to reschedule it for today because one of the panel members on the matter would be retiring tomorrow after hitting the mandatory age.

Two Deputy Ministers, Mr.Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa and Dr. Edward Omane Boamah, who at the time instituting the action were not ministers, are asking the court among others things to reverse ownership of bungalow No. 2 at Mungo Street, Ridge residential area in Accra

The Supreme Court earlier fixed May 9, 2012, for the much awaited judgment but could not deliver it because one of the members was indisposed.

The Supreme Court had in December last year thrown out preliminary objection raised by Mr. Obetsebi-Lamptey, contending that the Supreme Court do not have original jurisdiction to hear the matter.

Mr. Obetsebi-Lamptey who was a minister of state at the time of acquiring the bungalow after staying there for official duty seeks to lay claim to the state bungalow No. 2 at Mungo Street, Ridge residential area, arguing that he has duly purchased it. 

In his preliminary objection, he had sought to argue that the two applicants , who are deputy Minister of Information  and Youth and Sports respectively could have gone to CHRAJ or the High Court with their case and that the Supreme Court did not have jurisdiction in the matter.

His contention was that, Article 20 (5) of the 1992 constitution that the applicants sought for the supreme court interpretation, was unambiguous as it sought to address fundamental human rights and that the supreme court has no jurisdiction to hear the matter.

But the Supreme Court judges in a unanimous decision last year held that constitutional matters have been raised by the Plaintiffs and that Jake could not oust the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court of Ghana to interpret the constitution in the matter.
Mr. Ablakwa and Omane Boamah, in the latter part of 2008, sued the Attorney-General, the Chairman of the Lands Commission and the Chief Registrar of Lands at the Lands Title Registry in their personal capacities as citizens for allocating the property to Mr. Obetsebi-Lamptey.