Constitution permitting bail for every offence not 'developmental' - Prof Oquaye

The former Speaker of Parliament, Mike Oquaye, has called for a new approach to granting bail in the country.

According to him, the current bail system is not a developmental approach and must be amended.

Delivering a lecture at the Takoradi Technical University on ‘Consolidating Democracy and the Rule of Law in Contemporary Ghana’ he noted that the Supreme Court’s ruling in the case of Martin Kpebu vs Attorney General has “opened the floodgates for granting bail.”

“According to the Supreme Court, the provisions under the 1992 Constitution allowed bail for virtually every offence in Ghana. This to my mind is not a ‘developmental’ approach and must be amended,” he said.

He called for a new regime where crimes such as economic sabotage, for example, galamsey, receive a new bail approach.

“Economic sabotage today as we glaringly see with Galamsey should mean a new bail approach. Offences which are economic and undermine the economic resources- gold, oil, lithium et al. – and our recovery efforts should be identified,” he said.

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Mike Ocquaye