An Accra High Court has dismissed an application seeking to prevent the Attorney-General from standing in for the Ghana Police Service against the campaigners of the fix the country.
According to the court, since the case was filed on behalf of the state, the Attorney General is clothed with the power to prosecute the case on behalf of the police service.
In a case where the the fix the country campaigners are being prohibited from organising a demonstration, they had urged the Court to dismiss the application that is seeking to restrain them from embarking on a street protest.
They argue that, it is only a police officer who can request under the public order to restrain protestors from demonstrating.
In their quest to convinced the court to allow them demonstrate, the Attorney General Godfred Yeboah Dame appeared in court to prosecute the case on behalf of the police which the campaigners argue was unlawful.
They urged the court to dismiss the case arguing that, it is not within the jurisdiction of the court to hear a matter that bothered on public order but filed in the name of the state instead of the police.
A legal member of the lawyers of the campaigners, Julius Assinyo, insisted; “the applicant does not have the capacity to bring this application under section 1 subsection 6 of the public order act. Act 491. And as such, the Court is not clothed with jurisdiction to hear or grant the application. “
The said section 1(6) he said states, “where the organiser refuses to comply with the request under subsection 4 or fails to notify the police officer in accordance with subsection 5, the police officer may apply to the justice or chairman of the regional tribunal.”
Attorney General Godfred Yeboah Dame told the court the application was misconceived.
In her ruling, Justice Ruby Aryeetey said Article 88 of the 1992 constitution makes the the Attorney-General responsible for initiating all criminal cases and also defending the state in civil cases.
She added the police service is not even competent to make such an application without the knowledge of the Attorney General’s office.
By Godfred Tanam|3news.com|Ghana
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