The High Court in Accra presided by Justice Ofori Atta will on July 15 decide whether to uphold a stay of proceedings against a motion by Mr. Tsatsu Tsikata, the former Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation to put Justice Mrs Henrietta Abban of the Fast Track High Court on a mini trial for alleged bias. Tsatsu was jailed five years by Justice Abban on 18th June, 2008, after she found him guilty of wilfully causing financial loss to the State. But Tsatsu has since accused the judge of bias in the trial and refused her hearing an application for bail pending appeal against his conviction. He subsequently petitioned the Chief Justice, Mrs Georgina Wood to intervene, however, the CJ advised that the matter should be determined by a court of competent jurisdiction rather than administratively. The CJ further advised that the matter be placed before a court of competent jurisdiction in order that the grave issues that had been raised be determined judicially for the appropriate orders to be made. In court on Thursday, Tsatsu impressed upon Justice Ofori Atta to grant his request for a mini trial for Mrs. Justice Henrietta Abban to enable him prove the allegation of bias against her. But the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Joe Ghartey, applied to the court to stay proceedings on the mini trial because the reliefs sought by Tsatsu’s were the same reliefs in another he has filed before the Supreme Court, urging the high court therefore to await the decision of the Supreme Court. But Tsatsu said the Attorney General was wrong in equating the two cases because the application before the Supreme Court was seeking to quash the decision of Justice Abban to go ahead with judgement while part of the trial was pending before the Supreme Court. He said his application at the Supreme Court was not to quash the judgement of Justice Abban but to correct the administrative lapse in her usurping the powers of the superior court. In an affidavit supporting his motion for a mini trial, Tsatsu stated that “The issue of a bias by a judge is, indeed, a serious matter that is provided for in Article 296(b) of the Constitution. It is fundamental to the ends of justice that a judge proceed with an open judicial mind, untainted by bias, which is not the case with Mrs. Justice Henrietta Abban as far as this application is concerned and as far as I am concerned.” Author: Isaac Yeboah