Oliver Mawuse Barker-Vormawor
Former Presidential Staffer and convenor of social movement, #FixtheCountry Movement, Oliver Mawuse Barker-Vormawor has officially been charged Monday with Treason over his coup comments on socoal media.
The Ashaiman District Court presided over Elleonor Kakrah Barnes-Botchwey, Circuit Court sitting as additional magistrate remanded the accused for two weeks, granted him acesss to his counsel and family.
Although his plea was not immediately taken, his charge was read to him in open court.
Duelling on human right to apply for bail application for Barker-Vormawor, Baffour Gyawu Bonsu who held brief for the lead counsel, Akoto Ampaw, raised issues that police infringe on the right of the accused by detaining him for more than 48 hours as stated by the constitution.
The counsel although admitted that the court has no jurisdiction but beleives that the court can grant the accused person bail base on the exceptional circumstances surrounding the matter where the accused was arrested since last Friday.
He requested that the accused be granted bail to enable his defence counsel have conference with him and prepare for his defence.
However, prosecution led by Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Sylvester Asare appealed to the court to decline the bail application since the court do not have jurisdiction to trial the case per the charge sheet before the court because the case is a first degree felony which means that a lower court do not have jurisdiction to grant bail.
He believes the court has no right to determine whether the case is exceptional since it has no jurisdiction to determine the case, adding that “my learned colleague did not refer this court to any authority that confirm whether the case is exceptional and the jurisdiction of the court.”
According to him, it will be premature for the court to grant the accused person bail if the court attempts to invoke the Section 194 Act 30 of the Constitution.
He mentioned that prosecution made all efforts over the weekend to get a court for the accused person to be arraigned but all the efforts proved futile since the office of the Chief Justice was not opened to file request.
But in a quick rebuttal, lead counsel for the accused person, Akoto Ampah was of the view that prosecution deliberately brought the accused to a lower court knowing very well its does not have the jurisdiction to handle cases of this nature.
He believes that prosecution is using statutes to deny the fundamental human right and freedom of the accused as enshrined in the 1992 constitution since the 48-hour rule is mandated on everybody particularly the court and therefore its unconstitutional to hide behind jurisdiction to breach fundamental human rights.
The lead counsel stressed that continuous detention of the accused person is violation of the constitution, indicating that “The judiciary is mandated to ensure that all time the constitution is complied with principle of Rule of Law as continue detention of the accused person is unconstitutional.”
Having heard addresses from both defence counsel and prosecution, the court withheld that the accused is remanded into police custody since the court do not have jurisdiction to grant the accused bail per the nature of case before it.
The court further stated that defense counsel failed to state whether the accused person has permanent place of abode and family in Ghana and will therefore not interfere with investigation.
It has therefore remanded the accused to police custody and adjourned the case to February 28, 2022.
Per the fact of the case, the Ashaiman District Police picked information that the accused person has conspired with some youth group to stage coup.
Somewhere in February 2022, the former Presidential Staffer during the late Prof. Evans Atta Mills and John Dramani Mahama administration confirmed the information on his social media platform by insulting the Ghana Armed Forces and announced on Facebook a plot to stage a coup should the controversial Electronic Transfer Levy (E-levy) be passed.
Based on the post which contained a clear statement of intent with a possible will to execute a coup in his declaration of intent to subvert the constitution of the Republic, on February 11, 2022, the accused person was picked up by the Tema Regional Police Command after he arrived at the Kotoka International Airport from Portugal on Friday night.
Barker-Vormawor was brought in handcuff by the Counter Terrorism Unit (CTU) of the Ghana Police Service.
The hearing has attracted huge police presence with some of the campaigners of the #FixTheCountry Movement wailing after their Convenor was remanded.
Shockingly, the leadership of the social group was absence in court at the time of the hearing.
By Vincent Kubi
The post Coup Monger Barker-Vormawor Caged On Treason Charges appeared first on DailyGuide Network.
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