Government Communications Minister and presidential spokesperson, Felix Kwakye Ofosu, has taken issue with comments made by an Accra Circuit Court judge in the case involving Bono Regional NPP Chairman, Kwame Baffoe, popularly known as Abronye.
Speaking on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show on Monday, September 15, Mr. Kwakye Ofosu clarified that he was not condemning the decision to remand Abronye into police custody, but rather the judge’s reasoning, which appeared to suggest that not everyone is equal before the law.
“Everybody, including murderers and armed robbers, through Martin Kpebu’s interventions at the Supreme Court, has been declared that everybody deserves bail. So after you hold the person for one or two days and you take him to court, there should be bail,” he argued.
He acknowledged that a judge could reasonably consider certain factors, such as flight risk, citing reports that Abronye had once sought asylum abroad.
“Of course, if he had said that Abronye is a flight risk because he has requested asylum elsewhere, that is an acceptable rationale. Even then, it has to be done in a way that doesn’t seem to abuse,” Mr. Kwakye Ofosu explained.
The minister emphasised that no justification should undermine the constitutional principle of equality before the law.
“Everybody is equal before the law. From the President to the cleaner, we are all equal before the law. So I think that one is problematic,” he stressed.
Mr. Kwakye Ofosu’s comments follow public debate over the court’s handling of the case, particularly the judge’s statements, which some have interpreted as suggesting unequal treatment under the law.