The Judicial Service of Ghana (JSG), has clarified that judicial transfers, including the recent reassignment of Justice Priscilla Dikro Ofori, are routine administrative actions and are not intended to disrupt cases.
This, follows, media reports, suggesting the transfer aimed to frustrate the Special Prosecutor’s ongoing trial of Alex Kwabena Safo Kantanka, the unsuccessful nominee for the position of Juaben Municipal Chief Executive (MCE).
In a statement issued on Tuesday, December 3, the JSG, explained that such transfers are part of an annual process or occur as circumstances require.
The service emphasized that, judges being transferred are required to finalize judgments in completed cases and to complete trials that are near resolution.
Highlighting standard protocols, the JSG noted that transferred judges must submit a Case Completion Plan to the Chief Justice’s office. This process enables the issuance of warrants allowing the judges to deliver pending judgments and rulings.
Justice Ofori, who has been reassigned from Kumasi to Accra as part of 2024 legal year transfers, has adhered to these procedures.
She submitted her Case Completion Plan on November 29, 2024, and has been authorized to conclude cases close to completion.
The JSG stressed that, Justice Ofori’s transfer is one of many involving over 20 judges across various court levels and is not connected to any alleged interference in the judicial process. It urged the public to understand the operational framework governing judicial transfers.
Furthermore, the JSG, called on the media to prioritize factual and balanced reporting, urging outlets to verify claims before publication to avoid misleading the public.
Mr Sarfo-Kantanka, is accused of 26 counts of corruption, allegedly for distributing bribes to local assembly members to secure their approval as MCE of Juaben, following his nomination by President Akufo-Addo.
The Office of the Special Prosecutor initiated an investigation into these allegations after a video surfaced online showing Mr Sarfo-Kantanka, demanding a refund of the money he allegedly paid to the assembly members.
This was supposed to expedite his approval, which was denied for the second time.
The full trial against Mr Sarfo-Kantanka, began in the Kumasi High Court on October 20, 2022.
In an update posted in December of the previous year, the Office of the Special Prosecutor, announced that the prosecution had concluded its case after calling six witnesses during the trial.
Justice Dikro Ofori, was transferred just when she was due to deliver judgment.
Following the conclusion of the trial, judgment was expected on Thursday morning, November 28, 2024, until the parties went to court only to be told the presiding judge had been transferred with a new judge in place.
Mr Sarfo Kantanka, faces multiple charges of corruption, including allegations of offering bribes to assembly members in an effort to secure their approval for his nomination as Municipal Chief Executive for Juaben.
The court had initially fixed Thursday, as the date to deliver judgment. However, during Thursday’s sitting, the accused appeared with new legal counsel who argued that their client wished to file written submissions, a task his previous counsel had failed to complete.
The newly assigned judge, upon hearing the submissions, stated in open court that he was new to the case and required time to thoroughly review the docket.Consequently, the matter was adjourned to 20th January 2025, by which time a new government would have been installed after the December 7 election.
Mr Sarfo Kantanka, who failed to secure the needed votes to become the MCE for the Juaben Municipal Assembly in the Ashanti Region after two rounds of voting in September and November 2021, was caught on camera demanding the return of monies he had paid to some members of the assembly to influence his confirmation.
The suspect allegedly gave the elected members of the assembly GH¢5000 each and gave GH¢2,500 to each of the government appointees.
In its statement at the time, the OSP said, “the accused admitted gifting the indicated sums of money to the respective categories of the members of the assembly to influence the outcome of the elections in his favour.”
Members of the Juaben Municipal Assembly had, for the second time, rejected Sarfo-Kantanka as MCE after he failed to reach the two-thirds threshold needed.
He received 10 ‘Yes’ votes as against 15 ‘No’ votes with one ballot rejected.Twenty out of the 26 assembly members boycotted the previous process, citing heavy security presence at the venue.
After the process, Mr Safo-Kantanka was captured in a viral video demanding his money. The OSP said that the failed nominee “went berserk and vented his wrath on the members of the assembly and angrily demanded a refund of the money he had gifted to them.”
The police arrested him and granted him self-recognisance bail on November 1, 2021.
The Kumasi High Court in June 2023 admitted as evidence a viral video in which the failed Juaben MCE nominee could be seen and heard demanding money from Assembly Members.
DECEMBER 3, 2024
THE EDITOR
THE HERALD
ACCRA
REJOINDER
“RE: CHIEF JUSTICE SCATTERS SPECIAL PROSECUTOR’S ANTI-CORRUPTION FIGHT” “…With Strange Transfer Of Judge A Year After Kissi Agyebeng Publicly Cried Over Frustration”
We refer to the news story above, which was the lead story in your publication of Fri., Nov. 29- Sun. Dec. 01, 2024 and which was also published on The Herald Ghana and Daily News Ghana news portals.
The publication is misleading and creates the impression of ill motives to the Chief Justice’s exercise of her administrative mandate to transfer Judges. This Rejoinder provides you with the correct facts and background.
Administratively, transfer of Judges is done annually and or when they are necessitated by the circumstances of Judges or the court they serve in. In every case, Judges on transfer are supposed to deliver judgments in cases they have completed and to complete cases they have heard close to completion.
There are standard procedures for transferred Judges to follow, including submission of a Case Completion Plan, to the Office of the Chief Justice, which allows a warrant to be issued to the Judge to deliver outstanding judgments and rulings, and to complete trials that are near completion.
So whilst it is true that Justice Priscilla Dikro Ofori, who presided over the criminal trial of Alex Kwabena Sarfo Kantanka has been transferred from Kumasi to Accra, it is inaccurate to report and suggest that she ‘was transferred just when she was due to deliver judgment’ in order to ‘scatter Special Prosecutor’s fight against corruption’.
A follow up to obtain the facts behind the transfer of Justice Dikro would have assisted your medium to appreciate that:
1. The said transfer is part of the 2024 beginning of legal year transfers of more than twenty Judges at all levels of court
2. The Judge has presented the list of all outstanding judgments and rulings, and has been authorized to deliver ALL OUTSTANDING JUDGMENTS AND RULINGS.
On Friday, November, 29, 2024, she presented the required Case Completion Plan, for a warrant to complete cases that are close to completion.
Please bring this correction to the readers of your medium to afford the correct perspective on the issue of transfers in the Judiciary generally and the said Judge in particular.
In any matter that you need information in order to provide balanced reportage, you are at liberty to contact the PRO for the Judiciary on 0249558940.
Issued by: The Communications Department, Judicial Service of Ghana
