Government Communications Minister and presidential spokesperson, Felix Kwakye Ofosu, has raised concerns over comments made by an Accra Circuit Court judge in the case involving Bono Regional NPP Chairman, Kwame Baffoe, popularly known as Abronye.
Speaking on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show on Monday, September 15, Mr Kwakye Ofosu clarified that he was not opposing the decision to remand Abronye into police custody, but rather questioning the judge’s reasoning, which, in his view, implied that not everyone is equal before the law.
“Everybody, including murderers and armed robbers, through Martin Kpebu’s interventions at the Supreme Court, has been declared that everybody deserves bail. So after you hold the person for one or two days and you take him to court, there should be bail,” he argued.
He acknowledged that judges may consider legitimate factors such as flight risk, pointing to reports that Abronye had once sought asylum abroad.
“Of course, if he had said that Abronye is a flight risk because he has requested asylum elsewhere, that is an acceptable rationale. Even then, it has to be done in a way that doesn’t seem to abuse,” he explained.
The minister, however, insisted that no justification should erode the constitutional guarantee of equality before the law.
“Everybody is equal before the law. From the President to the cleaner, we are all equal before the law. So I think that one is problematic,” he stressed.
Mr Kwakye Ofosu’s comments come amid public debate over the court’s handling of the case, particularly the judge’s remarks, which some observers say suggested unequal treatment under the law.
Source: Ernest K. Arhinful
