On June 7, 2021 the Magistrate of the Sege District Court, His Lordship Narh Awah, threatened to strike out a case pending before the court if the prosecutor fails to appear at the next adjourned date.
The magistrate’s decision followed a seemingly deliberate attitude of the prosecutor in the case, Chief Inspector Francis Acquaye, who is said to have appeared in court just about five times out of the fourteen times the case has been called.
It is instructive to state that the trial involves seven accused persons who have been processed before the court for allegedly attacking and causing harm to the complainant.
Interestingly, it is understood that it was this same Chief Inspector who appeared in court to prosecute the accused after the police concluded their investigations following the official complaint launched by the victim.
It is, however, shocking to note that the prosecutor, whose office is not far from the court, has chosen to drag his feet by absenting himself, whenever the case was due for hearing.
Obviously, this has denied all the parties involved justice with a foreseeable psychological trauma that they may both be going through, considering the fact that they have to be present each time the case was due for hearing.
From the above, it is a fact that the magistrate’s effort to dispense justice as constitutionally mandated, is being hampered by the police prosecutor who is paid by the tax payers’ money, to perform such duties on behalf of the state.
As a matter of fact, Chief Inspector Acquaye is not the only police prosecutor whose attitude has frustrated a magistrate or a judge of a court of competent jurisdiction, as there are many of such cases at various courts and across the country.
We do not want to believe that this is one of the many strategies intentionally used by some of the police prosecutors to kill cases at the law courts to deny others justice and free others who might have breached the law. It is worth mentioning that such attitudes by prosecutors do not only deny victims their constitutional right to justice but they also affect the credibility of the legal system in the country.
This is because, if suspected criminals or individuals who have breached the law are nicodemously made to walk free through the antics of police prosecutors, it fuels mistrust of the judicial system by the citizenry.
In most cases, judges and magistrates are taken to the court of public opinion and dealt with mercilessly, whenever alleged suspects are freed, for want of prosecution by police prosecutors
We can confidently say that this is one of the reasons that people often resort to “instant or mob justice” where alleged criminals or suspects are often lynched or subjected to various forms of inhumane atrocities even before they are heard.
However, the dangers associated with dispensation of instant justice are so dire that it ought to be discouraged and discontinued by all well-meaning citizens, because each and everyone might fall victim to such illegal means of serving justice. Nevertheless, it is equally important to state unequivocally that when the citizenry have absolute trust and confidence that justice would always be served at the law courts no matter who is involved, such barbaric acts would end.
It is in the light of this that we appreciate the emotional outburst of His Lordship Narh Awah, which saw him call out the name of the police prosecutor in open court, which has brought his lackadaisical attitude to the spotlight. Seemingly, there are other prosecutors from the Attorney Generals’ office who are culprits in such deliberate delay tactics which deny others justice and set others off the hook.
For us, at the Chronicle, we would like to appeal to all judges and magistrates to be bold enough to point out unprofessional attitudes of prosecutors which have the tendency of undermining their work. We also want to call the attention of the Chief Justice and the General Legal Council as well as the Inspector General of Police to these lackadaisical attitudes of prosecutors which adversely affect and undermine the dispense of justice in the country.
In our view, Ghana, as a country, stands to lose if such attitudes continue at the court because they fuel suspicions that, no matter the level of crime committed the offender could have his or her way out, without facing justice. Our fear is the continuous suspicion that one can commit any form of crime and go unpunished with the assistance of prosecutors, which could lead to the escalation of other forms of crimes.
It is also important to state clearly that such suspicions could also lead to a surge in instance justice on the street which could undermine our quest for building a just society.
We further want to plead with his Lordship Awah to hasten slowly and use any legal means at his disposal to get the police prosecutor to appear before the court to continue with the case. We cannot claim to be practicing democracy and yet create artificial impediments to frustrate the legal system which is very vital in every democratic regime. Enough of the lackadaisical attitude of prosecutors because justice delayed, we dare say, is justice denied.
Editorial
Editorial: Lackadaisical attitude of police prosecutors worrying
Editorial
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