Kwabena Adu-Boahene
Justice Francis Achibonga, a Justice of the Court of Appeal sitting as an additional High Court judge in the trial of former Director General of National Signals Bureau, Kwabena Adu-Boahene and his wife, Angela Adjei-Boateng, says he will continue to hear the case during the legal vacation until the Chief Justice revokes the warrant issued him.
He has, as a result, warned the couple that if their lawyers fail to show on August 17, they would have to conduct the cross-examination themselves, a failure which the witness would be discharged.
Adu-Boahene and his wife showed up before the court yesterday without their lawyers, and when asked about the whereabouts of his counsel, he said, “it’s been quite a challenge reaching him this morning.”
He told the court that he was not sure whether his lead counsel, Samuel Atta-Akyea, was in the jurisdiction, adding that he was aware that some of the junior lawyers were marking scripts outside Accra.
Mr. Adu-Boahene therefore pleaded with the court to indulge him and the wife time to resolve the issue with the legal team.
The two have been charged for allegedly stealing a total of GH¢49.1 million from the state.
The court had adjourned the case to August 11 to 13 for the defence counsel to complete the cross-examination of the prosecution’s fourth witness, Frank Marshall Cromwell.
Selective Court Sitting
Prior to yesterday’s sitting, Mr. Atta-Akyea had written a letter to the Chief Justice asking him to rescind the warrant granted to the judge to conduct the case during the legal vacation.
He alleged the existence of “two criminal justice delivery systems” – the track that has been set by the Chief Justice to hurry justice pertaining to some “special criminal cases” programmed before specialised courts vis-à-vis the second track where criminal cases travel their normal course and never in an ambulance mode.
“With respect, this directive to continue with the part-heard trial risks exposing Your Lordship to claims of selective justice. Numerous other cases of repute, both criminal and civil, have been placed at a standstill by the legal vacation and adjourned to October and November 2026, to afford both judges and lawyers rest during the vacation,” the letter said.
The letter urged the Chief Justice to reconsider the directive and withdraw the warrant, with the hearing days vacated and the case adjourned to abide term-time in a manner consistent with the treatment afforded other pending cases.
DAG Opposes
Deputy Attorney General (DAG), Dr. Justice Srem-Sai, in response to Mr. Atta-Akyea’s absence, said the power to determine whether or not court proceedings will be held in the legal vacation is with the Chief Justice.
“It is the Chief Justice who determines whether there should be proceedings during the vacation. We are not aware of any law, rule, or practice or convention which allows a lawyer or a group of lawyers for that matter to decide whether there should be proceedings in court or not.”
He added that if the lawyer has a genuine reason to absent himself from court or to have the proceedings adjourned, “what we know at the Bar is that that lawyer would make a prayer to the court for the court to grant such adjournment on a case by case basis, in which case the court may either grant the prayer in part, in whole or dismiss same entirely.”
He, therefore, prayed the court to allow the trial to proceed “without hindrance.”
Judge To Continue
Justice Achibonga, in a ruling, said he had taken notice of Mr. Atta-Akyea’s letter to the Chief Justice as well as the Ghana Bar Association’s letter raising concerns about the court sitting during the legal vacation, but those letters cannot operate as a stay of proceedings.
“As indicated on the last date, having been issued by a warrant by the Chief Justice to sit in the legal vacation and to conduct hearings, until the said warrant is revoked, I am mandated to continue to sit as a vacation judge and conduct hearings,” he said.
Justice Achibonga, however, held that it will not be fair to call on the accused persons to cross-examine the prosecutions witness themselves.
He adjourned the case to August 17, warning the accused that they risk conducting the case themselves if the lawyers fail to show up.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak