CJA THROWN OUT OF COURT AGAIN

FOR the second time in a week, the Accra Fast-Track High Court has thrown out the Committee for Joint Action’s (CJA) motion on notice for interim injunction seeking to restrain the government and three television stations from the use of video footage of the committee’s demonstrations.
According to the court, since the substantive issue had been struck out, there was no basis upon which the CJA could come before it to move for the interim injunction motion, moreso, when the instant motion was not before it.
There was no order as to costs, but Mr Justice K.A. Ofori-Atta implored the CJA to do the right thing in having the case re-listed if it intended to have it heard.
He expressed the hope that by the time the case was re-listed, the initial costs of GH ¢150 which were awarded in favour of each of the respondents should be paid by the organisation.
The judge, after explaining the circumstances that led to the case to be struck out of the court, expressed concern about issues raised by counsel on radio, saying the case was as important as any other case, and he was not happy about the comments.
Mr Ayariga apologised and said he would advise the CJA members to be guarded in their utterances on the matter.
Mr Ayariga noted that it was not a true reflection of the records that the motion was not before the court since it was filed before the date was given for the hearing in the substantive matter.
Last Monday, the court, for want of prosecution, struck out the CJA’s motion that sought, among others, an order of prohibition to restrain the respondents from the further use of the images of its demonstration to protest against certain government policies in advertisements.
On that day, the Attorney-General, the solicitor of the government, was represented by Ms Ama Jantuah Bamful, while TV3 and Metro TV were respectively represented by Mr Eugene Glover Tay and Daniyal Abdul-Karim. GBC was also represented by Mr Anthony Matthews.
Counsel for GBC, Mr Matthews, on behalf of the other counsel, prayed the court to strike out the matter, in view of the fact that the CJA was not represented.
The matter was stood down for sometime to enable counsel for the CJA to be present, but after some time, there was still no representation for the CJA, and the judge had no option but to grant the application.
However, immediately after that counsel for the organisation filed another motion to seek an order to restrain the respondents from the continued use of its video footage.
When the matter came before the court, Mr Mahama Ayariga, counsel for the CJA, apologised to the court for his inability to appear before it on February 18, 2008, for the hearing of the substantive application.
According to the CJA, the use of the video footage to advocate for a fiscal policy that it was against, violated its rights, since the organisation disagreed with the policy.
An affidavit in support of the motion deposed by Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa of Dansoman in Accra said he was the spokesperson for the organisation and had its authority to depose to the affidavit.
It said the group had organised a series of demonstrations in various regional capitals in protest against certain government policies and hardships occasioned to the majority of Ghanaians due to taxes imposed by the government.
The respondents, it noted, were using the video footage of the demonstrations organised by the group to advertise for the imposition of a talk tax on mobile phones, a policy that the applicants were against.
It said that on the said advertisements, certain false and misleading statements regarding the employment status of the demonstrators had been made by the respondents.
The organisation said it had the right to ask that the images of the demonstrators should not be associated with messages that were false and misleading, and which it did not either believe in or actually openly disagreed with.