Member of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) legal and communications team, Lawyer Victor Kwadjoga Adawudu, has commented on the ongoing lawsuit filed by civil society group Democracy Hub against the government over a deportee agreement with the United States.
The suit names Attorney General Dr. Dominic Akuritinga Ayine and Foreign Affairs Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa as respondents.
It challenges the validity and constitutionality of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) reportedly signed between Ghana and the United States to allow the transfer of deported West Africans into Ghana.
According to Democracy Hub, the agreement was executed “secretly and illegally” without parliamentary ratification as required under Article 75(2) of the 1992 Constitution, which mandates that all international agreements entered into by the government must be approved by Parliament before implementation.
Mr. Adawudu, speaking on Channel One on October 15, drew parallels between this case and the 2017 “GITMO 2” case, in which the Supreme Court ruled that the then-government had breached the Constitution by accepting two Guantanamo Bay detainees without parliamentary approval.
He however cautioned against assuming the outcome of the current case would mirror that of the past.
“These days, the judgments that come from our superior courts, you cannot be certain,” he said.
He stressed that although the circumstances surrounding both cases may seem similar, it is hard to determine the outcome as different reasons cause different judgements.
“You cannot be certain that just because it happened under the same circumstances, the same people,”
“The constitution gives power to the Supreme Court to depart at any kind. It can make a decision this morning and change it in the afternoon, based on reasons,” he added.
Mr. Adawudu explained that this flexibility of the Supreme Court to depart from its own previous decisions makes legal predictions in constitutional cases difficult.
“It makes it a bit difficult when you’re even giving an opinion and say, ‘based on A, B, C, D, this is how I think,’ because based on other circumstances, it might go this way,” he said.
“It has not been certain for some time. Governance is a very difficult thing,” he noted.
Democracy Hub is excepted to appear before the Supreme Court in November 2025.
