Dedication: The author dedicates this paper to his sister, Vivian E. Sampson PhD, who obtained and graduated with her PhD from Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) on 15th December 2023, which date by divine coincidence was her birthday. Congratulations to her are in order and Happy Birthday to you Vivian E. Sampson PhD.
Introduction: In civil proceedings before the court, there may be the need in some instances to preserve the status quo to allow the court the time and opportunity to determine the respective rights of the parties. Injunction is one of the mechanisms that help the court to achieve this purpose. In recent times, the issue of the effect of being served an application for injunction has become topical for several reasons. In the year 2022, the Government of Ghana wanted to introduce the Electronic Transactions Levy Act which Act was passed in March 2022. Its implementation was scheduled to take effect on 1st May 2022. The National Democratic Congress (NDC) Minority in Parliament through three of its members, took a position and issued a writ and filed a motion to the Supreme Court to restrain the implementation pending the determination of the suit before the apex court. Despite the pendency of the application for injunction before the apex court, the implementation of the levy was carried out on 1st May 2022, before the hearing which was heard on 4th May 2022, rendering the application before the Supreme Court otiose. The author notes that the application for injunction was eventually refused by the apex court in a unanimous decision. Recently, upon the death of a man of God, Rev. Dr. Anthony Boakye, his surviving wife issued a writ in the case titled, Rev. Mrs. Margaret Boakye v. Resurrection Power New Generation Church and 6 Others, in the High Court Kumasi and applied for an injunction to restrain the performance of the final burial and funeral rites. In fact, the learned Court upheld and granted the injunction restraining the Defendants. In spite of the grant of the injunction, the corpse was released and not only was the final funeral and burial rites organized, but same was attended by prominent citizens of Ghana including the President of the Republic of Ghana. The sources of laws of Ghana are provided by Article 11 of the Constitution 1992. In the scenario of the ‘OccupyJulorbiHouse’, the Ghana Police Service alleged that they had applied for an injunction against the organization of the protest and had served same on the organizers, even though the organisers denied being served with any such. It was the contention of some of the organizers that the mere filing or service operated to prohibit them from so proceeding. Some practitioners erroneously in the author’s view, argue that the mere service of an application does not operate as an injunction and so even if served, they commit no wrong if they proceed to do the very acts which is the subject of the injunction, a position the author does not share. The author assumes the burden in this paper to discuss briefly the law on injunctions in Ghana, the circumstances under which it is applied for, the principles the court considers in granting or refusing same, the contrasting views on the effect of service of same on a person and restate the position of the law in Ghana regarding the effect of same.