Supreme Court dismisses suit over cedi depreciation

The Supreme Court Wednesday dismissed a suit brought against the Bank of Ghana (BoG) over the depreciation of the cedi.

The suit was dismissed on the grounds that the Court was not competent and lacked the jurisdiction to direct the BoG as to how to manage the cedi.

In July 2014, a private legal practitioner, Dr John Ephraim Baiden dragged the BoG to the Supreme Court, asking the court to order the bank to put in measures to provide a stable currency.

In his statement of case, the plaintiff accused the BoG of overstepping its bounds and, as a result, hurting the national currency.

But on Wednesday, the court, presided over by Mrs Sophia Adinyira upheld a preliminary objection by the BoG that the court lacked jurisdiction to hear the matter.

Preliminary objection

Counsel for the BoG, Mr Samuel Codjoe, in his preliminary objection argued that the action had been wrongly commenced at the Supreme Court.

According to him, the complaint of plaintiff was basically to the effect that second defendant has caused a depreciation in the value of the Ghanaian currency but deliberately couched as an application for interpretation of the Constitution in order to bring the action within the ambit of articles 2 (1) and 130 of the Constitution.

He further argued that the Supreme Court, in the exercise of its original jurisdiction, was not the proper forum for the interpretation of an Act of Parliament and it was, therefore, wrongful for the plaintiff to have invoked articles 2 (1) and 130 to seek interpretation of Section 4 (b) of the Bank of Ghana Act, Act 612 in the Supreme Court.