Human rights lawyer Francis-Xavier Sosu has alleged that there was a collusion between the Ghana Police Service and some persons in authority in the defiance by officers of the former of High Court orders in executing a bail granted murder suspect Gregory Afoko despite he meeting all conditions.
Mr. Afoko, who is standing trial for the murder of a former Upper East Regional chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Adams Mahama, was in March, 2019 granted bail to the tune of GH¢500,000 but the state ignored the Court’s ruling and continued to unlawfully hold him in custody for about three months.
In a dramatic turn of events, an Accra High Court presided over by a different judge rescinded the earlier bail ruling, which Mr. Afoko did not enjoy.
This development has raised a lot of questions about the justice delivery system in Ghana.
In the ensuing controversy, there were claims by the police that Mr. Afoko did not meet all the bail conditions.
Lawyer Sosu, who said he has been closely monitoring the case, however, refuted those claims, stating that Mr. Afoko met all the bail conditions and was due to be released.
Speaking on The Key Points on TV3, the aspiring National Democratic Congress (NDC) MP alleged that the police were compromised in the process as they did not have the power to decide whether or not bail conditions have been met.
He explained that the evidence that Mr. Afoko met all bail conditions was contained in a letter from the court registry to the police requesting that Mr. Afoko be brought to court for the execution of the bail.
“In fact, the registrar invited the prosecutor to Gregory to court so that he can execute the bail, and just when they were about executing that bail that was when the investigator had a call that he had instructions that it shouldn’t be executed,” he said.
“And that was what happened and I’m saying this on authority because I was very close to that action, yes I was following that action because I have been a part of the team of people providing services legally to the family,” he explained.
Lawyer Sosu insists the actions of the state in the matter is a perpetration of an illegality which has the tendency of compromising the rule of law.
“When the registrar says the bail conditions have been met, the police have no discretion in that matter, whether to release the person or not, so clearly there is illegality,” he said.
“Every step of this trial is a palpable abuse of the constitution,” he added.
