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ARREST WARRANT ON AKWATIA MP, LEGAL NUANCES AND THE SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST

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Diverse opinions have ensued pursuant to the arrest warrant issued by the Koforidua High Court after convicting the Member of Parliament for Akwatia, Hon. Ernest Kumi, for contempt of court. The legitimacy of his seat is not the topic in contention in this article. The focus is whether the arrest warrant issued by the court is unconstitutional? Well, this has been elaborated below. The Constitution, 1992 has significant implications on the arrest of Members of Parliament (MPs). According to Article 117 of the Constitution, 1992, civil or criminal processes from any court or place outside Parliament cannot be served on or executed in relation to the Speaker, a member, or the clerk to Parliament while they are on their way to, attending, or returning from any proceedings of Parliament. Furthermore, the Constitution also provides that civil or criminal proceedings cannot be instituted against an MP in any court or place outside Parliament for any matter or thing brought by them in o...
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THE OSP V. KEN OFORI ATTA: THE FOREPLAY AND BEDMATICS WITH THE LAW

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The Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP), has declared former Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, a wanted fugitive in connection with multiple corruption-related investigations. This declaration has sparked significant legal debate, regarding the OSP's authority and the broader legal implications of such an action. On February 12, 2025, the OSP announced that Mr. Ofori-Atta was wanted for questioning in several high-profile cases, including: the Strategic Mobilization-GRA Contract, termination of the ECG-GXC Contract, payments related to the National Cathedral, and the Ambulance Procurement Contract. The OSP stated that Mr. Ofori-Atta had failed to honor multiple invitations for questioning and had left the country indefinitely, citing medical reasons. The OSP expressed skepticism regarding the authenticity of the medical documentation provided and declared him a fugitive from justice. Legal Implications The OSP's declaration has been met with criticism from various le...
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HAKIMI’S DIVORCE CASE, THE PROPERTIES AND SPOUSAL RIGHTS, THE CONTEXT OF THE LAW: GHANA

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Hakimi’s case, as others see it as an eye opener, have really revealed the intensions of both men and women as they have legally accepted to be together as husband and wife. However, the principle of “Till death do us apart”, is not fully considered as both parties may envisage divorce. This therefore draws the attention of both parties to secretly plan the aftermath of divorce. At this point, the concept of spousal property comes to play, who gets what after filing for divorce. Who gets what in divorce battles can be one of the most difficult decisions a judge will have to make. These proceedings tend to be acrimonious, as each spouse is bent on benefitting as much as possible from the property distribution to be made by the court. But the bases for such distributions have varied over the years. In the 1959 case of Quartey v. Martey [1959] GLR 377-383  the court stated that under customary law it is the duty of a man’s wife and children to assist him in the carrying out of the dut...
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Know the law: Implications of COVID-19 on Contracts

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The Writer Economic activities around the World are almost grounded to a halt due to the Global pandemic, Coronavirus (COVID-19). To ensure the control of the virus in Ghana, the President of the Republic on March 30, 2020, under the Imposition of Restriction Act, 2020 restricted the movements of persons in the Greater Accra and the Greater Kumasi for a period of fourteen days subject to review. Prior to that, some countries around the world had instituted a lockdown, which resulted in most people not being able to go by their normal businesses as they ordinarily do.  This situation has affected business operations, and the likelihood that some contracts or agreements would be affected as a result of this pandemic is very high. All around the world, there are reports of workers being laid off because of this pandemic. The issue of undischarged contracts would be discussed with the common law doctrine of frustration. What is the Doctrine of Frustration A c...
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The Public procurement environment and the regulating laws

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Public procurement is the process by which governments and other publicly-funded entities acquire goods, works, and services needed to implement public projects. It accounts for at least 15% of the world’s gross domestic product (GDP), and even more in African countries. The Public Procurement Authority (PPA) is the institution mandated to ensure public procurement in the country. The PPA is established by the Public Procurement Act, 2003 (Act 663) as a regulatory body responsible for the effective implementation of the Public Procurement Law in Ghana. The Authority seeks to ensure fairness, transparency and non-discrimination in public procurement in order to promote a competitive local industry and increase the confidence of varied stakeholders in public procurement processes in the country and beyond. The Public Procurement Law, 2003 (Act 663) is a comprehensive legislation designed to eliminate the shortcomings and organizational weaknesses which were inherent in pub...
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Legal Education: GLC and necessary reforms

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The Writer Examinations at the Ghana School of Law for the professional certificate have come under huge criticisms due to massive failures of students yearly. Some complain of questions out of the syllabus, other students also complain of unknown marking schemes set, to assess the students. There is a school of thought out there who argues that there is an attempt by the General Legal Counsel and the Chief Justice, to control the legal education system by their own will. A cursory look at the utterance of the Justice Sophia Akuffo, “If people want to do their own law practice, they can go on the internet. Members of the public can go on the internet and turn themselves into lawyers if they want to.” The Chief Justices utterance gave some section of the public a view that the massive failure of some law students is a deliberate attempt to limit the number of students who would be called to the bar. In a rebuttal to some of these claims, the General Legal Counsel (G...
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Examination of the Regulatory Environment of Pensions in Ghana: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

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The Writer The Pension Scheme of Ghana as in many African nations, started as far back 1950 in the colonial times. The legislation regulating the Pension Scheme at that time was the Pensions Ordinance Number 42 (Cap 30). The United Kingdoms retirement plan for the country's working class involved the set-up of a number of provident funds, which were subsequently transferred into a basic social security scheme in 1965. The growth of the pension sector necessitated greater control and monitoring. This led to the establishment of the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) in 1972, to administer the Social Security Scheme. It was later identified that the existing SSNIT pension was not providing adequate security for retirees. The phenomenon led to the then President to establish a commission to deal with the matter. The Presidential Commission on Pensions in 2004 was put into place to address these concerns, and its recommendations led to the passing of ...
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Analysis of “Sex for Grades” within the context of the Chapter 12 of the 1992 Constitution

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The Writer In context of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana in specific provision of Chapter Five (5), the fundamental human rights of both the lecturers and the students in the "sex for grades" investigative piece ought to be respected. In the case of Professor Gyampo, he proposed to the prospective student to marry her. In the face of the law, Professor Gyampo committed no offence thereof.  However, there is no specific provision in the 1992 Constitution which captures student-lecturer relation. Although there is no specific provision protecting the relationship of the two parties, per Article 165 of the 1992 Constitution, it is impliedly stated that sexual relationship of both Professor Gyampo and the lady is also a form of right exercisable by all citizens of Ghana. This is therefore important to identify the basic rights of Professor Gyampo, to justify his action of marriage proposal to the lady.  Dr. Butakor and Dr Igbeneghu, on the other hand also committe...
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The law and Restitution Orders in a Criminal Case

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The Writer Restitution is the ordering of a court of payment of money or the return of property found to have been stolen by the accused person. A judge in a criminal case could only make restitution orders against an accused person. Section 146 of Act 30, therefore, provides that where a person is convicted of having stolen or having obtained property fraudulently or by false pretences, the Court convicting that person may order that the property or a part of the property be restored to the person who appears to the Court to be entitled to it. And so in The Republic v Circuit Court Judge Hohoe; Ex Parte Atalu and Another , the High Court in quashing the purported restitution orders of the Circuit Court held that restitution orders could only be made against convicted persons and not against strangers to the criminal charge. However, with the passage of the Criminal Procedure Code (Amendment) (No.2) Act, 1964 (Act 254), a number of inroads have been made in the law of rest...
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Victim-Offender Mediation and the Criminal Justice System

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Writer Under the criminal justice system, a crime is regarded as an offence against the state and not the victim. The state steps into the shoes of the victim and prosecutes the offender. In the end, the state focuses on punishing the offender to either pay a fine to the state or commit the offender to a prison term. There is very little or  no attention to the needs of the victim, hence leaving the victim unsatisfied, impoverished and bitter. In view of this challenge, there are other alternative methods of settling criminal disputes outside the traditional criminal justice system. One of such methods is the victim-offender mediation. Victim offender mediation aims at restoring damaged or broken relationships between an offender and a victim by providing both parties an opportunity to meet face to face to address their differences through mediation. This is also called transformative justice or restorative justice. It enables parties to settle their disputes without going...
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