Many will recall, how as a probono lawyer, Dr. Justice Srem Sai floored renowned lawyer Godfred Dame in the matter involving the State and Ghana Police against the #fixthecountry conveyors.
The details of the historic win, which may have eventually forced the Ghana Police and Attorney General, to eventually allow the #FixTheCountry demonstrations, despite several failed attempts initially are as follows:
The Supreme Court had quashed an order by the Accra High Court restraining the #FixTheCountry movement from going on demonstration, in a unanimous decision on Tuesday the 8th June, 2021, as a five-member panel of the apex court held that the High Court exceeded its jurisdiction by making the restraining order to last indefinite, as #FixTheCountry group, were led by the fast rising Lawyer Dr. Justice Srem Sai.
According to the court, by the operation of law, the order which was secured ex parte by the police on May 6, 2021 is supposed to last for 10days, and therefore the High Court acted in error by making it indefinite. The court gave the ruling Tuesday after upholding in part a certiorari application by the #FixTheCountry Movement. The five -member panel was presided over by Justice Yaw Appau, with Justices Mariama Owusu, Lovelace Johnson, Clemence Honyenuga and Prof Henrietta Mensa-Bonsu.
Well, fast forward, the fast rising Lawyer, who most recently as few days ago, had successfully studied for and awarded a Doctorate Degree in Jurisprudence, has won another landmark case, against the President and Attorney General, Godfred Dame.
It may be recalled that on April 6, 2020, Mr Francis Kwarteng Arthur, a private legal practitioner, went to the High Court to challenge the President’s order contained in Executive Instrument (EI) Number 63 as well as the manner in which the order was being implemented. This suit, was by Lawyer Dr. Justice Srem Sai, who was the applicants legal counsel.
EI 63 orders all telecommunication network and service providers to handover the personal information of all customers and subscribers to the President. The President’s reason for making CI 63, according to the Attorney-General, was to conduct contact-tracing to control the spread of the deadly covid-19.
Since the passing of the EI 63 in March 2020, the personal information of millions of mobile phone service subscribers has been collected and given to a private company, Kelni GVG.
Counsel for the applicant, Dr Justice Srem-Sai, argued, among others, that “EI 63 offends the permissible limitation clause of the Constitution … and that the mechanism that EI 63 deploys is extremely disproportionate to the intended purpose.”
In a 70-page judgement delivered in Accra on July 22, 2021, the court held that the President’s actions violate and continue to violate the right to privacy. The court, presided over by Mrs Justice Rebecca Sittie, also directed the government to delete all such data and submit a report to the Registrar of the High Court within 14 days. The court ordered Vodafone, the NCA and Kelni GVG to pay damages of GH¢ 20,000 each to the applicant.
Source: eghnews