The PNC court case • High Court quashes decision

March 11, 2011 (Page 3 Lead)

THE Accra Fast Track High Court yesterday quashed the decision of the Adjabeng District Magistrate’s Court which remanded three executives of the People's National Convention (PNC) into police custody.
According to the High Court, it was wrong in law for the district court to revoke a bail it (district court) had earlier granted to the accused persons because it had no jurisdiction to do so.
The lower court had, on February 24, 2011, remanded Baba G. Seidu and Ahmed Gado who had appeared before it on the grounds that they had flouted the court's order.
On March 3, 2011, it declined to renew its orders that revoked the bail granted to the accused persons and, accordingly, remanded a third accused person, Dr Somtim Tobiga, who was absent on February 24, after revoking his bail.
On February 24, 2011, the presiding District Magistrate, Mrs Faustina Mary Addington, after revoking their bail, had further ordered the agents, assigns and workmen of the accused persons to vacate the premises until the final determination of the case.
However, the Fast Track High Court, presided over by Mr Justice Charles Quist, after hearing a bail application filed by counsel for the accused persons, indicated that the lower court should have committed the accused persons to the High Court for contempt of court if the court where the accused persons were standing trial for stealing and causing harm felt it had been slighted in any way.
It, accordingly, revoked the lower court’s decision to remand the accused persons and granted them bail in the sum of GH1,000 with a surety each.
The higher court’s bail terms were softer than those of the lower court, which granted a GH¢4,000 bail each to Dr Tobiga and Seidu, with two sureties each, one each to be justified. The lower court had granted Gado a GH¢3,000 bail with two sureties, one to be justified.
The accused persons were absent in court but their family members and sympathisers trooped the courtroom in their numbers to listen to the court’s decision.
They left the courtroom in a cheerful mood after the court had revoked the decision of the district court.
Earlier, counsel for the accused persons had prayed the court to grant the three bail on the grounds that the district court exceeded its mandate when it revoked the bail for the accused persons.
According to counsel, it was wrong for the lower court judge to entertain Captain Nkrabeah Effah-Dartey (retd), who had posed as “holding and watching brief” for the complainants in the case and thereby succeeded in convincing the lower court to do an illegality.
Counsel argued that Capt Effah-Dartey did not have any legal backing to stand before the lower court to demand the incarceration of the accused persons because he was not the prosecutor in the case and also did not have express permission from the Attorney-General to do that.
A representative from the Attorney-General’s Office, Mrs Dora Quaye, said her outfit’s concern was the non-compliance by the accused persons with the lower court’s orders.
She, however, prayed the court to use its discretion in granting bail to the accused persons.
On February 24, 2011, the bail granted to the accused persons had been revoked by the court after Capt Effah-Dartey had informed it that the accused persons had flouted its orders.
According to him, the accused persons were still occupying the PNC's offices, despite the orders of the court made on January 6, 2011 that they should vacate them.
Capt Effah-Dartey, therefore, prayed the court to revoke the bail by sending them back to custody until they complied with the orders of the court.