The Supreme Court (SC) yesterday ruled that selected courts across the country are to work on weekends, public holidays and during industrial action or strike to deal with matters that affect personal liberties.
Also it said that the power to determine incarceration or grant bail to suspects rests with the courts and, therefore, persons arrested on suspicions regardless of the jurisdiction and time must be arraigned within 48 hours.
Private legal practitioner, Mr Martin Kpebu sued the Attorney General in 2016 and asked the court to hold that on a true and proper interpretation of Article 14(3) of the 1992 Constitution section 4 of the Public Holidays Act (Act 601) is inconsistent with Article 14 (3) and is void to the extent of that inconsistency.
The SC in a unanimous decision delivered by out-going Chief Justice Sophia Abena Boafoa Akuffo consequently ordered the incoming CJ to set up administrative requirements including overtime payment to judges, magistrates and Judicial Service staff.
The apex court also ordered the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) to within six months sensitise police prosecutors and investigators to ensure enforcement of the decision.
Speaking to the Ghanaian Times, Mr Kpebu welcomed the decision saying it would expand the frontiers of rule of law.
He said the era where some powerful people in the society cause the arrest of persons who are detained beyond the constitutional provision of 48 hours has come to an end.
Mr Kpebu described the ruling as a momentous and a ground breaking decision that take justice delivery a notch higher.
He asked the court to declare that on a true and proper interpretation of Article 14(3) of the Constitution (1992) a Saturday, a Sunday, a public holiday, anytime during a civil unrest and any other day that the courts in Ghana cannot sit (e.g. during strike by judicial service staff or during a strike by any other stakeholder that will prevent the court from sitting) would be counted in reckoning the 48 hours within which a person arrested or detained on suspicion of committing a crime and not released must be brought before a court under Article 14 (3) of the Constitution of Ghana (1992).
He urged the court to declare that the Government of Ghana is in breach of Article 14(3) of the Constitution of the Republic (1992) for not taking steps to ensure that some courts are opened on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays for arrestees whose 48 hours of incarceration expire on the aforementioned days are brought to court for the court to determine the validity of their incarceration and to enable the arrestee to apply for bail.
Mr Kpebu urged the apex court to state that, on a true and proper interpretation of article 14(3) of the 1992 Constitution certain courts must be made to sit on Saturdays, Sundays or any other day that the courts are ordinarily unable to sit due to strikes, civil unrest and other circumstances not contemplated, in order for the court to hear applications for bail.
The applicant prayed the SC to declare that where a court is scheduled to sit on or seized with a criminal matter concerning an arrestee who is being brought pursuant to article 14 (3) of the Constitution is unable to sit in open court under circumstances of strike or civil unrest an arrestee in custody has a right to apply to a judge who has jurisdiction to hear that kind of case for bail or for his release depending on the classification of the offence.
He said the application may be made in chambers or any other place the judge may be found and should not be subject to filing a motion in the court, but the motion may be filed with the judge.
A declaration that on a true and proper interpretation of Article 14 (4) a court seized with a criminal case must hear the substantive case against a suspect or accused who is not admitted to bail ahead of an accused who have been admitted to bail.
BY MALIK SULLEMANA
