....Ghanaian Appeals to President Jammeh

Sixty-one-year-old Robert Mensah, a Ghanaian who arrived in the country a few months ago to pursue a case involving US$75,712.21 between him and his former employee, Mr. Pelzzari Paolo, the chief executive of B.A.O. Ltd, then in Guinea, has strongly appealed to President Jammeh to intervene in the matter.

In a letter addressed to the president dated September 24 and copied to the president of The Gambian Bar Association, secretaries of state for Foreign Affairs and Interior, Ghanaian Consul, Amnesty International (Gambia branch) and Emmanuel Joof of ASLCL, Mensah stated that he was employed by the said company in Guinea Conakry on February 17, 1992 as a tractor operator on a salary of $700 per month and a night-duty allowance of $500. He worked for the company for eight months without receiving any salary, which was contrary to a contractual agreement between him and his employer. When he requested for his salary, the company instead gave him a letter of dismissal.

Determined to defend his right, he filed a suit against the company at the Guinean labour court and the case proceeded up to an appeal court, which delivered a judgement in his favour. Nevertheless, the company refused to comply with the court's injunction.

Mensah later learned that the company, B.A.O. Ltd has relocated to The Gambia, which necessitated his (Mensah's) visit to country.

After several unsuccessful attempts to get the company to pay him the money, he has decided to appeal to President Jammeh to intervene in the matter and bring the case to an end to enable him to return to his country to settle down with his family. A frustrated and desperately looking Mensah attached all relevant documents including those from the Guinean Court of Appeal relating to the case.

It could be recalled that this paper carried the stories few months ago in which it stated that several attempts by Mensah to get Pelzzari Paolo settle his claim included getting Human Rights lawyer, Emmanuel Joof to write Pelzzari Paolo at 80 Atlantic Road, Bakau informing him of Mensah's claim. In a reply to that letter Pelzzari's lawyer, Fatou Bom Bensouda said her client was not indebted to Mensah as all his entitlements resulting from his service to B.A.O. Ltd. has already been settled.