Lawyers representing Rockson-Nelson Dafeamekpor, the Member of Parliament (MP) for South Dayi, have expressed their displeasure with the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) for requesting additional and specific information to bolster their petition.
The petition seeks an investigation into a damning report authored by Professor Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng, the former Chairman of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining (IMCIM).
CHRAJ directed the MP’s legal team to provide supplementary details to substantiate their petition.
However, the aggrieved lawyers have suggested that CHRAJ instead invite Professor Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng to furnish the additional information themselves.
Speaking to the media, Nii Kpakpo Samoa Addo, Dafeamekpor’s lawyer, said, “It is not the job of a petitioner to go and solicit persons with adequate requisite information for CHRAJ. CHRAJ has asked us to provide further and better particulars, but we have provided you with a complete report as we have. That is the extent he can go, the constitution mandates CHRAJ to use subpoenas to get the documents it so requires.”
“The petitioner is not the author of the report. Professor Frimpong-Boateng is the author of the report, and he has indicated that he’s ready to corporate with investigations. He’s the best source to get the right information, our work is done,” the lawyer said.
A letter to CHRAJ signed by Nii Kpakpo Samoa Addo, solicitor for Dafeamekpor said “Prof Kwabena Frimpong Boateng is better placed to provide evidence of the allegations cited in his report, which my client seeks to draw your attention to as a subject matter for investigations by your good office”.
“This is an indication that Prof Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng is willing to provide the necessary assistance to your good office to investigate the damning allegations contained in the IMCIM report that he authored. Our client has discharged his duty as a concerned citizen by petitioning your good office to take the appropriate steps to investigate the allegations contained in the IMCIM report as mandated by the 1992 Constitution so to do.”
“It is the prayer of our client that your good office engages Prof Kwabena Frimpong Boateng who authored the IMCIM report to assist with investigations into the damning allegations made therein for which you seek better and further particulars,” lawyer for Dafeamkpor added in the letter.