I Wasn't Thrown Out, SSNIT Contributors Were Rather Kicked Out - Awuni Rebuts

Mr. Andrew Awuni, the Executive Director of the Centre for Freedom and Accuracy has bemoaned media reports and headlines after court ruled against his case challenging the sale of Merchant Bank to Fortiz Equity Fund. According to him the case is not between �Awuni and Fortiz� but �SSNIT contributors versus Fortiz�; hence the court �shot down SSNIT contributors�. Mr Awuni�s bid to stop the sale of SSNIT�s 90% stake in Merchant Bank to Fortiz was dismissed Wednesday when the Commercial Division of the High court dismissed his application for lack of capacity. The court presided over by Mrs. Justice Sophia Rosetta Benasko Essah, upheld the application of Mr. Tony Lithur, counsel for Fortiz, challenging the capacity of Mr. Awuni to sue for an injunction to be placed on the sale of Merchant Bank. Some of the headlines that followed the dismissal of the case were as follows: �Awuni Shot down�, �Awuni Thrown Out�, Court Shoots Down Awuni� and so on. However, Mr. Awuni in an interview on PEACEe FM said that should not be the case. �Today�s ruling affects everybody and so it will not be a true reflection to say that Awuni has been thrown out; it is all of us; every SSNIT contributor have been thrown out and that will be factual. It is a landmark ruling. What the court means by their ruling is that SSNIT contributors can and are supposed to pay their contributions but they don�t have the right to question what the money is going to be used for,� he pointed out. He has described the court�s ruling that contributors have no locus to ask for accountability or what their money is being used for as �immoral� but added �we respect the court�. According to him, �it is quite disturbing how people have twisted the issue to be only Andrew Awuni against Fortiz-Merchant Bank deal. The court said contributors have no locus and not Awuni; meaning that anybody else who takes the case to court will also be dismissed; because per the court, we have no locus but it is immoral.� Meanwhile, lawyer for Mr Awuni, Mr Egbert Faibaille has disclosed that they had already filed an appeal because his client stood a good chance of winning the case.