Justin Kodua Frimpong
The opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) has warned the government, especially the judiciary, to refrain from imposing excessive bail conditions on some perceived members of the party accused of committing offences against the state.
Speaking at a press conference in Accra yesterday, General Secretary of the NPP, Justin Kodua Frimpong, said such practice contravenes Section 96 of the Criminal and Other Offences (Procedure) Act, 1960 (Act 30), and Supreme Court precedents, which affirm that bail should not be punitive or withheld merely as a punishment.
According to the General Secretary, state security agencies continue to flout such constitutional provisions with impunity, particularly Article 14 on the grant of bail to persons arrested or detained.
He said the constitution requires that such persons be brought before court within 48 hours or be released either unconditionally or upon reasonable conditions as may be necessary, to ensure they appear at a later date for trial.
He stated, “Thus, an accused person who is not tried within reasonable time is entitled to bail irrespective of the nature of the offense. However, recent developments clearly suggest a worrying trend where NPP members are detained beyond the lawful limit, subjected to unreasonable bail conditions, and effectively denied justice.”
“This is anchored on the constitutional principle enshrined in Article 19(2)(c) that a person accused of committing an offense shall be presumed innocent until proven guilty. However, under this John Mahama administration, such persons are rather presumed guilty until they prove their innocence,” he added.
Mr. Frimpong also cited some perceived members of the NPP, including Chairman Wontumi, Kwabena Adu Boahene, Abdul-Wahab Hanan, Gifty Oware Mensah, Osei Assibey Antwi and many others who were arrested, with one accused person’s bail condition set to the tune of GH¢800 million.
He stated, “How ridiculous! Doesn’t this effectively amount to denial of bail, which the law speaks against? Judges, generally, fear to dispense justice according to the law because they fear that they may also suffer the same fate as Justice Torkornoo. Judges are now telling us that we are all not equal before the law and are quoting dictators like Idi Amin of Uganda to justify the unlawful detention of citizens in a democracy.”
The party also criticised the conduct of the Attorney General and Minister for Justice, Dr. Dominic Akurintinga Ayine, accusing him of repeatedly acting as a “court of law” by declaring accused persons guilty even before their cases are filed or while they are still pending in court.
He stated that the Attorney General and Minister for Justice seems not only good at filing nolle prosequi to free his political allies and National Democratic Congress (NDC) members accused of embezzling large sums of money, but also guilty of blatantly abusing prosecutorial discretion.
According to him, the Attorney General appears more interested in striking deals with certain accused persons to use them as prosecution witnesses, in order to secure convictions against former officials of the previous NPP administration.
“The police are more interested in arresting and persecuting social media activists such as “Facebookers” and “Tiktokers” for allegedly insulting public officials and making or posting disparaging remarks about government officials than fighting insecurity in the country,” he pointed out.
Such selective justice and intolerance, the party explained, erodes public confidence in Ghana’s democracy and justice system, leading to resurgence of a “culture of silence”, where citizens are targeted for expressing dissenting opinions on social media.
Touching on the fight against illegal mining (galamsey), the General Secretary accused the NDC of being enablers of the practice. He cited instances involving some NDC Members of Parliament and party executives who, he claimed, were engaged in irresponsible mining activities even going as far as attacking uniformed military personnel who attempted to stop them.
“We in the NPP duly acknowledge the existential threats posed by the worsening galamsey situation and are willing and ready to cooperate with the government to fight the menace.
“We are not going to behave like them when they were in opposition, where they made it look like galamsey was an Akufo-Addo creation and made a lot of political capital therefrom. The NPP is a responsible opposition, and we are ready to assist in tackling this generational crisis for the love of country,” Mr. Frimpong pointed out.
By Ebenezer K. Amponsah