BA private citizen has dragged the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) to court for violating his fundamental human rights as guaranteed by the 1992 Constitution.
According to the plaintiff, Frank Akuley, who is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Ghana First Company Limited, he was arrested by BNI officials on January 14, 2019 and kept in custody till January 18 without officially charging him or putting him before any court of competent jurisdiction.
This, he said, violates the tenets of Article 33(1) of the Constitution which stipulates that a suspect must be released either conditionally or unconditionally or be produced before a court of competent jurisdiction within 48 hours.
In an affidavit in support of the motion paper filed at an Accra High Court dated January 24 2019, the plaintiff, through his lawyer Charles Bentum, averred that on January 14, 2019, officials of BNI came to his office to arrest him.
According to the plaintiff, he was then sent to the BNI Headquarters in Accra and detained for five working days without access to legal counsel and his family.
This action by the BNI, the lawyer insisted, is a complete violation of his client’s constitutional right to personal liberty, saying “BNI is obliged by law to release a suspect either conditionally or unconditionally or be produced before a court of competent jurisdiction within 48 hours.”
He said the BNI, however, failed or refused to act within the remit of the law and kept Mr. Akuley for 96 hours, which he said “is sinful to the 1992 Constitution.”
As at the time of filing this report, the BNI had not filed for a defence, and this paper understands the time within which to do so had elapsed.
DAILY GUIDE understands that the BNI picked up the plaintiff who was in the course of leading Ghana First to promote the improved sanitation agenda in the country.
Since the inception of Ghana First, the management, in collaboration with their contractors and other stakeholders, have continued to work hard to ensure effective and efficient implementation of the project.
Indeed, the company’s strategic intent is to build ultramodern toilet facilities nationwide to check open defecation.
The intention of the company is to improve health, sanitation, hygiene and tackle environmental degradation in the country.
The company is working with contractors in building the modern toilet facilities, and the contractors are to be paid a portion of the contract sum upon completion of 60 per cent of the projects.
So far, the company has paid over GH¢4.6 million to assist most of the contractors.
By Gibril Abdul Razak