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To fully appreciate the decision of Judge Merley Afua Wood, of the High Court of Ghana, to overturn the earlier decision of another High Court judge, Judge George Buadi, to grant a bail on bail to Mr Gregory Afoko, chief suspect of the brutal badbadination of Mr Adams Mahama, then chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) party, then the main party in the Upper East Region region , the fierce criticism of the second judge, namely Wood J., must fully understand all the details of the facts and all of the circumstances that led Buadi J. to make the decision, at first instance, to dismiss the case. grant to the accused the quite gigantic bail of 500 000 GH or half a million cedis. We should not just badume that, one way or another, Judge Buadi made a perfect decision ordered by God.
It should also be noted that, according to Ghana's general economic standards, half a million cedis, New Cedis, is absolutely not an easy walk or easy walk in the park, so to speak, for an individual or even a group coughing or stuffing. The foregoing clearly means that the Chief Justice of the High Court involved in this case, Judge Buadi, by giving bail to Mr. Afoko, seems to have fully realized that the main suspect of the acid murder Mr Afoko Adams Mahama posed a considerable risk to the security of the courts and the country in general.
The next logical step is to familiarize yourself with the details of the evidence presented by Attorney General Gloria Akuffo, her legal representatives and the estate of Justice Wood, so that the latter jurist immediately decides to overturn the earlier decision. of Judge Buadi a bond to the defendant. We must also be aware of the fact that Mr. Afoko's legal status has changed considerably from simple "criminal suspect" to "defendant" or "criminal defendant", which means at least for the moment, the Evidence before the court clearly shows that Mr. Afoko may very well have committed the crime (s) charged against him or that he is actually charged with it. You see, no one can just walk the streets or bring in someone in his house and accuse the owner or the host of any criminal offense. There should be credible evidence from the forensic point of view strongly badociating the accused with the crime in question. Of course, it should also be noted that Mr. Afoko is still suspected of crime until he is finally found guilty or not guilty, which is very different from being "innocent". ", by the bye.
Equally significant is the fact that his huge bail undoubtedly underlines the fact that even Judge Buadi, the judge who initially granted bail to Mr. Afoko, inevitably believed that the defendant submitted to his court had very serious questions. difficult to resolve before its legitimately constituted tribunal and the largest court of Ghanaian society and opinion. In short, Mr. Afoko is not exactly the kind of "innocent" Ghanaian citizen that the lawyer, Mr. Francis-Xavier Sosu, would have the criminal and the rest of the country and the world believe. We underline the above facts because Mr. Sosu would often have advised Mr. Afoko, during a radio interview, that he would have allowed a Bolgatanga-based radio station, Yem Radio, to go on a hunger strike. and refuse to retreat until the primary suspect loses consciousness and dies, if a bail continues to be denied (See "Hunger Strike: Lawyer tells Gregory Afoko," MyNewsGh. com / Ghanaweb.com 7/16/19).
The absurd logic is this: Attorney General Akuffo and the rest of the Akufo-Addo government would then have the blood of the victim. Again, it is important to emphasize categorically for the sake of both Mr. Sosu and critics who argue like this rudely misguided young lawyer, that Mr. Afoko is absolutely not a "common political prisoner" of the ordinary kind who is accused ideological nonsense. Ghana's democratic culture or the commission of a crime quite different from the brutal badbadination of Mr. Adams Mahama, who is being dumped. Even more damning must be the fact that, according to police investigators, shortly before having valiantly abandoned his hard and painful fight against the proverbial Leveler, Mr. Mahama had personally informed the police investigators, in the solemn presence of some of his relatives. members of the family and some colleagues and political badociates, that it was Mr. Gregory Afoko, the younger brother of the well-known archnemesis of the deceased, that is, Mr. Paul Afoko, then National President of the New patriotic party, who had poured the gallon, or almost, full of acid on him while the deceased was within earshot of a parking lot in front of his building in Bolgatanga.
Up to now, what is missing in the wave of criticism against Justice Merley Afua Wood and Attorney General Gloria Akuffo, is the fact that none of these obnoxiously vociferous critics have based its judgment or opinion on relevant details. the current trial of the accused. This leaves one wondering whether, indeed, Ghana is a nation of highly educated and respectable thinkers or intellectually lazy lazy thinkers.
* Visit my blog at the address: kwameokoampaahoofe.wordpress.com Ghanaffairs
By Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., PhD
Department of English, SUNY-Nbadau
Garden City, New York
July 20, 2019
E-mail: [email protected]
Warning: "The views / contents expressed in this article only imply that the responsibility of the authors) and do not necessarily reflect those of modern Ghana. Modern Ghana can not be held responsible for inaccurate or incorrect statements contained in this article. "
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