Twelve individuals who were standing trial for alleged criminal acts, including murder, have been discharged after evidence suggested that the state had been adamant in prosecuting their cases.
Some of these individuals, who have been in custody for close to a decade, had made no more than four appearances in court since their arrest.
Underpinning Ghana’s criminal justice system is the respect for the human rights of suspects. In furtherance of this, Article 14 of Chapter 5 of the 1992 Constitution, which deals with human rights, is devoted to the right to personal liberty.
As a result, the law prohibits the deprivation of a person’s liberties except under the circumstances stated in Article 14 of the 1992 Constitution during arrest.
However, a person arrested cannot be kept in custody for more than 48 hours without being brought before a court of competent jurisdiction. The court is at liberty to either grant or deny bail. In cases of unreasonable delay in the trial of the accused, the court is further empowered by Article 14(4) of the 1992 Constitution to either release the suspect conditionally or unconditionally.
Despite these provisions, there are instances where individuals are kept on remand without timely prosecution of their cases.
In an attempt to address this, the Judiciary initiated the Justice for All programme, where hearings are held within selected prisons for selected inmates who fall within this bracket to provide them with a hearing.
At the Nsawam Medium Prison facility, hearings were held for 24 inmates, out of which 12 were discharged, 10 were granted bail, and two were denied bail.
Among the discharged individuals was Kwabena Nyarko, who was arrested in July 2016 but had been on remand since then. Although he was granted bail in 2017, set at 50,000 Ghana Cedis, he could not meet the bail terms. Considering the inaction on the part of state prosecutors, Justice Kofi Akuffo discharged the accused.
Another discharged individual was accused of stealing what he described as an Itel phone and unlawful entry. He was granted bail set at Ghc 40,000 with two sureties, but his failure to meet the conditions resulted in him being locked up for one year and one month with no court appearance.
Kofi Afum, who was charged with murder, had been on remand since 2018, despite the Office of the Attorney General advising that the accused be discharged.
Another inmate, Samuel Owusu Addo, had been on remand for nearly 11 years for allegedly committing murder. However, state prosecutors had no evidence regarding the status of his case or details of his last court appearance. Consequently, Justice Kofi Akuffo discharged him.
A 67-year-old man and a 51-year-old man were also discharged after spending seven years and eight years, respectively, at Nsawam Prison without active prosecution of their cases.
Despite these challenges, the judiciary says such cases have drastically reduced since the introduction of the Justice for All programme.
Meanwhile, prison officials are working towards ensuring that individuals with similar stories go through the legal process.
The PoS Foundation, facilitators of the programme, are urging the cabinet to expedite consideration of the Community Sentencing Bill.
