Dafeamekpor Hints Of Private Member’s Bill On Bail Act
The Member of Parliament for South Dayi constituency, Rockson Nelson Dafeamekpor is preparing a Private Member’s bill on Bail.
He gave the indication in a Tweet on Wednesday.
Before disclosing his intention, he referenced the case of Gregory Afoko, an accused standing trial for the murder of a former Upper East Regional Chairman of New Patriotic Party (NPP) in 2015.
“Look people lets be fair” he began, “Gregory Afoko has done almost 8yrs in prison custody even before he is found guilty or otherwise by a Court of Law. How’s this possible in a 2022 Ghana?”
“Fair trial must mean something. It is time for the Bail Act. Private Members Bill loading…..”, he added.
Afoko, a brother of former NPP National Chairman, Paul Afoko, is standing trial together with one Asabke Alangdi for an attack on an NPP executive, Alhaji Mahama on May 20, 2015 which claimed his life.
Since his arrest in May 2015, he has remained in custody till now.
In March 2019, a High court judge granted Afoko bail to the tune of GHC500,000, however, the state ignored the court’s ruling and continued to hold the suspect in custody for about three months until the bail was overturned in July the same year by an Accra High Court, Citi News reports.
The decision of the court to reverse the bail followed an application made by the then Attorney General to the effect that the suspect will not show up for trial if granted bail.
The granting of Bail in Ghana is governed by section 96 of the Criminal Procedure Code, 1960 (Act 30).
Currently, Ghana’s law makes provision for three types of bail.
First of all, police enquiry bail is granted by the police as their investigation proceeds.
Ghana Law Hub explains that if the police fail to release the accused, the police are mandated to bring the accused before a court within forty-eight hours after his arrest or detention.
The second is bail pending trial. It is granted at any time during the trial. First an application must be filed to the court for consideration or the court could grant it on its own motion.
The last is bail pending appeal.
Source: opemsuo.com/Hajara Fuseini
