Chief Justice Anin-Yeboah
The Chief Justice (CJ) has designated circuit and district courts across the country to sit on weekends, holidays and during periods of civil unrests to determine issues of personal liberty as long as the safety of judges, magistrates and judicial staff can be guaranteed.
“Consequently, all Circuit Court judges and magistrates will sit on days so specified whenever they are informed by their respective registrars that a case bordering on personal liberty has been filed to determine on any of the specified days,” Justice Anin-Yeboah directed.
The directives is an implementation of an order of the Supreme Court given in December last year following a suit filed by private legal practitioner, Martin Kpebu, challenging the 48-hour rule of detaining a suspect without putting them before a court because the courts are not sitting on weekends or holidays.
Mr. Kpebu filed the action seeking to compel the authorities to ensure that detaining suspects under 48 hours before presenting him/her before a court of law should not only be conditioned on the days that the courts are sitting but should also be applicable to all days whether weekends or public holidays.
A seven-member panel presided over by the then CJ Sophia A.B. Akuffo unanimously held that the 48-hour rule on the power to arrest, restrict and detain suspects in Ghana is applicable on all holidays and by extension all seven days of the week.
The panel which included Justices Julius Ansah, Anin-Yeboah, Paul Baffoe-Bonnie, Sule Nasiru Gbadegbe, Alfred Anthony Benin and Prof. Nii Ashie Kotey gave consequential orders directed at the CJ, the Inspector General of Police, registrars of the various courts to ensure that the ruling of the court is brought to the attention of all interest parties for purposes of its enforcement.
The court consequently ordered the new CJ to make provision for courts to sit on weekends, public holidays and during periods of civil unrests to determine issues pertaining to personal liberty.
CJ Anin-Yeboah in his first major decision as CJ had implemented the order, designating circuit and district courts across the country to sit on the specified days.
Per the CJ’s directives, the respective registrars shall also inform the court staff to attend court on such days fixed for the hearing of such personal liberty cases.
“The Supervising High Court judges in all regional capitals shall designate a Justice of the High Court to sit and determine any such case on personal liberty as and when his attention is drawn to the filing of such case by the registrar of the court”, the CJ added.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak