STOP ABUSING THE RIGHTS OF SUSPECTS--LAWYER TELLS POLICE

, By Felix Engsalige Nyaaba

A Human Rights  and Public Interest lawyer has advised that every Ghanaian should take it as a responsibility  to learn the country’s  constitution and its applications in courts  in order to curtail the deliberate  abuses of the 48 hours constitutional permit allowing  the police services to detain suspects before sending them to the law court.

Mr. Francis Xavier Sosu , said though the law  states suspects could be detain not beyond 48 hours  before  they are processed  to the law court, the  clause  has often been abused by the Ghana police unreasonably.

He said more often than not, the police and other state security that have the mandate to effect arrest and detain suspects have become notorious in deliberately   keeping suspects in cells when they have opportunity of sending them to court before the 48 hours.

Mr.Sosu made the call at a legal forum held for residents of Dodowa, Adenta, Oyarifa and surrounding communities in the Greater Accra Region yesterday.

He said the 1992 constitution stated that, “A person who is arrested, restricted or detained, for the purpose of bringing him before a court in execution of an order of a court or upon reasonable suspicion of his having committed or being about to commit a criminal offence under the laws of Ghana, and who is not released, shall be brought before a court within forty-eight hours after the arrest, restriction or detention.”

It is for that reason that he is advocating for citizens to be oriented on the constitution to stop what he described as gargantuan abuse of suspects rights by the Ghana police in recent time of the country’s young democracy.

“At what point in time the police would stop this deliberate abuse of rights on the Ghanaian citizens, especially people who found themselves in the hands of the law enforcement agency as suspects and the police are the institution who have the power to detain or grant bail?”He asked.

According to him, the answer to the problem with the police in Article 14 (3, a b), is for every Ghanaian to read the 1992 constitution of Ghana and challenge any of the security agencies that attempt to tumble over their rights.

 The monthly program which seeks  to sensitize the residents about their rights and the need to know the country’s constitution was organized by F-X Law &Associates  on the theme: “General Understanding of Law and its Application in the Ghanaian Citizen.”

He said , until the Ghanaian citizens know and understand their rights , the police would continued  to abuse their fundamental human rights with impunity as it has often been in the country since the 1992 constitution.

Mr. Victor Opeku , another  legal practitioner,   also took the participants through the civil law procedures , especially where it has to do with contracts agreements and many other business transactions.

He explained that because of ignorance of the law, many people in the country enter into contracts that are not binding whenever either side of the contracts fails and therefore resulting into many cases sent to court.

Mr. Opeku stated that, though not every contract should be in a written form, some of the financial agreement and contracts that have to do with assets should be documented to avoid future legal brawls.

Some of the participants later expressed their delightful for the program which has been organized in the area for the first time.

According to the participant, if such legal programs are organized in the area it would go a long way to help avoid some of the problems that they face in legal matters.