Government Communications Minister and presidential spokesperson, Felix Kwakye Ofosu, has raised concerns over remarks made by a 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 his criticism was not directed at the judge’s decision to remand Abronye into custody, but rather at the reasoning behind it. He argued that the judge’s comments created the impression that not all Ghanaians are 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 explained.
The minister acknowledged that judges can take into account legitimate concerns such as the possibility of flight risk. He pointed out that reports of Abronye once seeking asylum abroad could have been used as a reasonable basis for denying bail.
“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,” Kwakye Ofosu said.
However, he stressed that no justification should undermine the constitutional principle that all citizens are equal 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 emphasised.
His remarks come amid heightened public debate over the court’s handling of Abronye’s case, with many questioning whether the judge’s comments reflected unequal treatment under Ghana’s legal system.
