Abronye DC
The decision by a Circuit Court judge in Accra to rely on George Orwell’s Animal Farm while remanding the Bono Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Kwame Baffoe, popularly known as Abronye DC, for another week has drawn wild criticisms from all quarters, with some calling it illogical and unfortunate.
The court, presided over by His Honour Samuel Bright Acquah, last Friday rejected all pleas by lawyers for Abronye for him to be granted bail pending trial, rejecting all the assurances that the accused is not a flight risk and would therefore avail himself for the trial.
Instead of relying on the constitution and case law to back his ruling, the judge’s decision to quote Animal Farm, a book which preaches inequality, did not help matters, forcing many to question his intensions and whether he should continue to sit in the case.
“It is always said that all persons are equal but in practice, it is not so. Courtesy George Orwell in his book ‘The Animal Farm’, one of the commandments is that all men are equal but some are equal than others. Translated into this case, all men are equal but some are more equal than others,” the judge, who is by law expected to uphold equality, said in his ruling while denying the accused bail.
Hamza Suhuyini, a spokesperson for the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government, described the decision as defying logic, while Martin Kpebu said on live television that decisions such as this was not part of the reasons “we voted for the NDC.”
Abronye DC is before the court for two offences; publication of false news and ‘offensive conduct conducive to breaches of the peace’ in relation to comments he made against the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Christian Tetteh Yohuno. Both offences are misdemeanours.
He was arrested on September 8, after honouring an invitation by the police, and was remanded by the court on September 9 to reappear on September 12, after the prosecution told the court the police were still investigating the matter.
The court finally took his plea on the charges although the prosecution, led by Chief Inspector Teye-Okuffo said they were still not done with the investigation but told the court to take his plea.
Abronye DC pleaded not guilty to the charges, and his legal team comprising Alexander Afenyo-Markin, Godfred Yeboah Dame, Daniel Martey Addo, all led by Freddie Blay, pleaded with the court to grant him bail pending trial.
Mr. Afenyo-Markin drew the court’s attention to what he described as police “high-handedness” in treating the accused person, bringing him to court in the ‘Black Maria’ van to suggest that the accused had committed a “grave” offence.
He assured the court that Abronye had nowhere to run to, adding that the accused will make himself available “to stand trial and not abuse any favour that we will receive from this honourable court.”
The prosecution “strongly” opposed the grant of bail, arguing that they will need the accused to “thoroughly investigate these issues.”
Chief Inspector Teye-Okuffo further argued that Abronye will interfere with investigations if granted bail, adding that the accused will not even appear for the trial if granted bail because he is a flight risk.
The judge, Samuel Bright Acquah, in his decision said Abronye may have been charged with misdemeanours but he will not look at just the charges but the fact that the comments concerned the IGP, and that could put the security of the nation in disrepute.
He went on and on about the need to rid Ghanaian society of politics of insults, indicating that “if parties engage themselves in such acts and they cannot solve it by themselves and bring it to the court, it is the duty of the court to also play its role in wiping out that politics of insults from the society.”
He, therefore, remanded Abronye into prison, prompting Afenyo-Markin to plead with him, and he subsequently changed it to the custody of the National Intelligence Bureau (NIB). Abronye will reappear before the court on September 19.
Meanwhile, Enoch Afoakwa, a member of Abronye’s legal team, has called on all well-meaning Ghanaians to add their voices to the current government’s handling of persons perceived to be their opponents.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak