Convener of the #FixTheCountry movement, Oliver Mawuse Barker-Vormawor spent the night in police custody a day after being granted bail.
He was granted bail Wednesday, March 16, 2022.
This is as a result of some challenges regarding his bail conditions.
A Tema High Court presided over by Justice Daniel Mensah granted Mr. Barker-Vormawor bail in the sum of GHS 2 million with two sureties.
The court also ordered that one of the sureties is to deposit a document covering landed property within the court’s jurisdiction.
However, the Ghana Police Service in a statement said the Court’s Registrar was unable to complete the verification process at Land Commission of the documents presented by one of the sureties.
Consequently, the Registrar was unable to conclude with the execution of the bail until he receives a response from the Lands Commission.
“At the court, the Registrar informed police that he has submitted the doucments presented by the surities to the Land Commission for verification and he was therefore unable to proceed with the execution of the bail until a response was receive from the Land Commission,” excerpts of the statement read.
This made the police to take Barker-Vormawor back to cells to await the completion of the bail process by the High Court Registrar.
“We wish to point out that the accused was granted a court bail and therefore the execution of the bail is dependent on the court and not the police.
“The accused will therefore be released when the court is satisfied that the bail conditions have been duly met,” the police said.
The Tema High Court presided over by Justice Daniel Mensah granted Barker-Vormawor bail considering the facts of the case and the legal arguments by counsel for Barker-Vormawor and the Republic.
The court disagreed with arguments of the position that Barker-Vormawor did not have a fixed place of abode having regard to the facts of the case; and that he was at flight risk since his passport was already in the custody of the Republic.
The activist is accused of inciting an overthrow of constitutional organs of government but he has denied the claims and said he is ready to go full trial.
He was arrested on February 11, 2022, over claims that he had threatened to cause a coup if the controversial Electronic Transaction Levy also known as E-levy was passed by Parliament.
Barker-Vormawor has been charged with treason felony and remanded by the Ashaiman District Court on three occasions.
However, in his application for bail pending trial failed at the Tema High Court, Barker-Vormawor contested the claims, saying a charge of treason felony against him cannot be sustained by the evidence available.
But the Attorney-General in an affidavit in opposition to the bail, insisted that evidence uncovered so far corroborates a charge of treason felony against the activist.
Meanwhile, Barker Vormawor has told the court that he is in good health and hopes they take him to trial.
By Vincent Kubi