By Akaneweo Kabiru Abdul
Folks, you should be amused that our judiciary, which is described as the last bastion of democracy, is becoming a laughing stock each day. Judges, are you people happy? The inconsistencies, contradictions, and convenience are just too much.
In Ghana today, people accused of misdemeanors are being denied bail by the courts or subjected to outrageous bail conditions, while those accused in connection with murder are granted bail within 24 hours. Yes, under our laws and accepted practice all over the world, all crimes are bailable. That means everyone is entitled to bail, no matter the gravity of the accusation, until the person is convicted.
A misdemeanor can be categorized as the least serious form of offence in our criminal jurisprudence. So, no reasonable and proportionate judge should remand someone in relation to a misdemeanor. Yet, it is rather the opposite that is happening in our courts today.
I hope you all remember the irrational reasoning of the Adenta Circuit Court judge in the Abronye misdemeanor case. In case you have forgotten or are probably oblivious, the judge remanded Abronye on the basis that he would go on to commit further offences. Isn’t this terrible reasoning? That’s what I mean when I say our judiciary is in the abyss. No direction, just chasing straws!
You people are living witnesses to how political activists are being molested by our courts over harsh speech, misdemeanors, and defamation.
Murder, on the other hand, constitutes the highest category of offences under our criminal jurisprudence. Someone accused of murder (first-degree felony) will undergo a criminal trial that can result in imprisonment if found guilty. So, attempted murder does not have any significant variation from murder in terms of its seriousness.
In the Kantanka family case, where Adwoa Safo was shot multiple times with bullets, the suspects, including her biological brother, were granted bail the very next morning by the same Adenta Circuit Court that has gained notoriety for remanding people and imposing outrageous bail conditions on those involved in misdemeanor cases.
Is this the porous judiciary we are depending on? If someone accused of attempted murder can be granted bail that easily without being remanded, why should someone be sent to remand because of a defamation suit? Such selective amnesia and partisan undertones should be abolished by the judiciary.
Recently, I read somewhere that a gentleman called Webkid was remanded for about one month because of a defamation suit filed by Stonebwoy. I was flabbergasted because this amounts to judicial excess. I asked myself, what kind of justice system is this? Some of the rulings judges give lately are not only alien to our laws but to conventional logic as well.
Again, something happened yesterday. I am not interested in the merits of the case, but I read that a judge had sentenced the Editor-in-Chief of the Herald Newspaper. Then today, that decision was quashed on appeal.
Our judges never cease to amaze me. Lucifer himself would be astonished, and this exemplifies the crisis in our judiciary. Why? Because accused persons, who are innocent until proven guilty and ought to be granted bail, are being kept on remand for months, while someone whose conviction has already been entered is granted relief on appeal within a 24-hour period.
Isn’t this mysterious? I suggest it is.
