Deputy Attorney General, Dr Justice Srem-Sai, has accused Ofoase-Ayirebi MPKojo Oppong Nkrumah and his lawyers of relying on what he described as a “deliberate falsehood” in their challenge to the Chief Justice’s directive allowing selected criminal cases to be heard during the legal vacation.

His comments followed the Supreme Court’s dismissal of Oppong Nkrumah’s application for an interlocutory injunction seeking to halt the hearing of criminal cases during the legal vacation.

Justice Gabriel Pwamang, sitting as a single judge of the Supreme Court, dismissed the application on Friday, 21 August, holding that the applicant had failed to establish a serious constitutional question warranting the injunction.

In a Facebook post following the ruling, Dr Srem-Sai said Oppong Nkrumah’s application was premised on the claim that the Chief Justice had assigned “selected cases” to only two judges to be heard during the legal vacation.

He said the applicants consequently sought an injunction against the two judges.

“On court, however, their own evidence shows that their allegation was a deliberate falsehood,” Dr Srem-Sai wrote.

He pointed to Exhibit D tendered by the applicants, which he said showed that the Chief Justice’s warrant was general and was not limited to any particular case.

He also cited Exhibit E, which he said showed that 29 judges, rather than two, were sitting during the legal vacation.

“The point, however, is that they have succeeded in preventing the courts from working for one week. Never underestimate the power of deliberate falsehood,” he said.

Oppong Nkrumah filed the substantive case at the Supreme Court challenging the constitutionality of administrative warrants issued by Chief Justice Paul Baffoe-Bonnie directing selected High Court judges to hear criminal cases during the legal vacation.

The injunction application was intended to suspend the operation of the directive pending the determination of the substantive constitutional challenge.

The Supreme Court’s dismissal of the interlocutory application clears the way for the affected criminal proceedings to continue during the legal vacation, while the substantive case remains before the court.