MARTIN AMIDU: Judge Samuel Bright Acquah is a canker ...

I did not intend to write this article but for having read last night the ruling of one Samuel Bright Acquah who passes as a Circuit Court Judge and consequently a lawyer on the Roll of Lawyers in Ghana. The published certified copy of the ruling of the person styled His Honour Samuel Bright Acquah in the case of The Republic v Kwame Baffoe @ Abronye particularly from pages 8 to 10 of the ruling constitutes a disgrace to the legal profession and the Judicial Service of Ghana. The depth of research, learning, the language used, and the writing style are not only porous but unbefitting to be part of a long easy of a final year law student on the condition on which a court may grant or refuse bail to any suspect.

The question that immediately came to my mind was whether Judge Samuel Bright Acquah was a fit and proper person to have been enrolled on the Roll of Lawyers in Ghana in the first place. How could such a person have passed through the legal education system and been called to the Bar? How did such a person become a Circuit Court judge in Ghana even if he slipped through the Roll of Lawyers?

Ordinary lay men are taught from elementary school about the presumption of innocence of suspects and the burden on the prosecution to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt at a fair trial before a court of law. The grounds on which a court may grant bail to suspects are well known to the general public with any basic education. It is trite that bail must not be punitive or excessive. Chapter Five of the 1992 Constitution spells out clearly the fundamental human rights and freedoms of the citizen, including the protection of personal liberty (Article 14), respect for human dignity (Article 15), equality and freedom from discrimination (Article 17), and a fair trial with the concomitant right to the presumption of innocence (Article 19). One does not need a law degree to know these rights of the citizen.

The first year student in the faculty of law pursuing studies in law is taught the basics in his first year General Legal System of Ghana course before he studies the detailed subject of criminal procedure in later years at the professional law course. One cannot ordinarily be appointed a circuit court judge without first having been enrolled on the roll of lawyers and achieved a specified number of years standing as a lawyer. Consequently, when I read the ruling of Judge Samuel Bright Acquah I had no doubt in my mind that he is a canker on both the legal profession and the Judicial Service of Ghana. A lay magistrate would not be expected to write such a ruling on bail, let alone a professional magistrate, and much more a circuit court judge who has been on that bench for years.

How can the legal profession and the Judicial Service of Ghana have someone on the bench passing for a circuit court judge who refers to books he has pertinently not read as authority for refusing bail in a criminal case? The Constitution of George Orwell’s Animal Farm as stated in Chapter II (2) of the book was made up of Seven Commandments. The original Seven Commandments in George Orwell’s Animal Farm did not have any commandment stating, “that all men are equal but some are equal than others.” Animal Farm in Chapter II states, inter alia, as follows

“These Seven Commandments would now be inscribed on the wall; they would form an unalterable law by which all animals on Animal Farm must live forever. The Seven Commandments were written on the tarred wall in great white letters that could be read thirty yards away. They ran thus:

THE SEVEN COMMANDMENT

Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy
Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a friend.
No animal shall wear clothes.
No animal shall sleep in a bed
No animal shall drink alcohol
No animal shall kill any other animal
All animals are equal.”

Chapter X (10) of Animal Farm shows how all these original Seven Commandments were wantonly abused and eventually reduced to a single Commandment. Clover said to Benjamin:

‘“My sight is failing me,” she said finally. Even when I was young I could not read what was written there. But it appears to me that the wall looks different. Are the Seven Commandments the same as they used to be, Benjamin?”

For once Benjamin consented to break his rule, and he read out to her what was written on the wall. There was nothing there now except a single Commandment. It ran:

ALL ANIMALS ARE EQUAL BUT SOME ANIMALS ARE MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS.

After that it did not seem strange when the next day the pigs who were supervising the work of the farm all carried whips in their trotters. It did not seem strange to learn that the pigs had bought themselves a wireless set, and were arranging to install a telephone, and had taken out a subscription to John Bull, Tit-Bits, and the Daily Mirror…..’

Samuel Bright Acquah sought by his ruling to reduce the 1992 Constitution to the level of a dictatorship and authoritarian judicial autocracy in which a circuit court judge assumes the power to control the liberties of the citizen in a manner inconsistent with the Constitution and the due process of law. – “If the citizens of Ghana do not set restrictions for themselves, then the Court

[meaning, “ Napolean” in Animal Farm” sitting as Judge Samuel Bright Acquah]

will do that for them.

The suspect, Kwame Baffoe @ Abronye was brought before Judge Acquah pursuant to Article 14 of the 1992 Constitution and the Courts Act for pretrial proceedings pending the commencement of the real trial after the completion of the investigations. The suspect pleaded not guilty to the charges preferred against him:

“Count One: Publication of false news with intent to cause fear and panic contrary to Sections 208 (1) of the Criminal Offences Act 1960 (Act 29) and Section 123 of the electronic Transactions Act, 2008 (Act 772). Count TWO: Offensive conduct conducive to breaches of peace contrary to Section 207 of the Criminal Offences Act, 1960 (Act 29).”

The presumption of innocence was thus asserted by the suspect by his plea of not guilty and the burden fell on the prosecution to prove his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. The fundamental right and freedoms guaranteed every citizen by the 1992 Constitution enjoined Judge “Napoleon’ Acquah to presume suspect Kwame Baffoe innocent and to determine whether the suspect would avail himself for trial or would interfere with the on-going investigations in the misdemeanour cases being tried before the court. Judge “Napoleon” Samuel Bright Acquah had no business as a professional judge to lecture the suspect or Ghanaian citizens on their fundamental rights and their noses. He had no business pontificating about Animal Farm and on his personal opinions that:

“The Ghanaian society is of late polluted with insults which if not checked will put the security of the nation into disrepute or open the Pandora door (sic) [pandora box?] for many people to also do same… It is the wish of the Court that all Ghanaians should try and prevent that insults (sic) from the society.”

Judge “Napoleon” Acquah based on extra-judicial considerations inconsistent with the court’s bail jurisdiction in which the suspect is presumed innocent found the suspect “guilty” of political insults and remanded him into prison custody at nib [whatever “nib” means]. Judge “Napoleon” Aquah then in typical Orwellian fashion adjourned the case to 19 September 2025. The fact that Judge “Napoleon” Samuel Bright Acquah was using bail as a punishment despite the suspect’s presumption of innocence; and the fact that Judge “Napoleon” Acquah had descended into the political arena between the governing NDC and the opposition NPP is amply demonstrated in his conclusions when he stated as follows:

“Political parties should also introduce policies that will check that politics of insults and take it out of our society. So if parties engage themselves in such acts and they cannot solve it by themselves and bring it to the court, it is the duty of the court to also play its role in wiping out that politics of insults from society. The court therefore, remands the accused person into prison custody at nib (sic), counsel may repeat his application on the next adjourned day. …. Adjourned to 19th September 2025.”

A quick google search on the name Judge Samuel Bright Acquah will disclose the consistent abuse of the rights of citizens to bail on extra-judicial grounds and as a punishment contrary to the citizen’s freedom and right to be presumed innocent. As Judge “Napoleon” Acquah confesses in his ruling under reference in “the Rep V Raphael Okai Ankrah where the suspect was alleged to have insulted the then President Nana Akuffo-Addo” he gave the suspect “2 weeks remand just to cool down tempers (Emphasis supplied).

Judge “Napoleon” Samuel Bright Acquah also confesses in the ruling under reference that, “just about 2 or 3 weeks ago another matter from Circuit Court 8 came before me (sic) Rep V Emmanuel Kwakye the journalist from Wontimi TV and he was also remanded for same 2 weeks.” The remand of these suspects who had pleaded not guilty to allegedly insulting the Presidents as preliminary punishment before trial constituted a blatant abuse of the fundamental rights and freedoms of the citizen and flies in the face of the hallowed grounds of exercising the discretion to refuse bail in serious cases. The fact that Judge “Napoleon” Samuel Bright Acquah had the impunity to inform the public of equalizing the use of his extra-judicial reasons

for refusing bail in the Rahael Ankrah, and the Emmanuel Kwakye cases makes him an opportunist seeking to please Presidents to enhance his self-promotion.

The Ghana Police Service prosecutes criminal cases upon the delegated authority of the Attorney-General and the Attorney-General is ultimately responsible for ensuring that police prosecutors do not consistently present sensitive cases to inferior courts of their choice where they can always have their way because of familiarity between police prosecutors and the inferior court judges or magistrate before whom they always appear.

***Dr. Dominic Ayine, Attorney General***

When the Attorney-General cedes his prosecutorial powers to the police to investigate and prosecute citizens without further reference to him in overly sensitive cases or encourages the police to assume such sensitive cases for purposes of deniability of responsibility by the Attorney-General, he may find himself tacitly or intentionally creating martyrs out of suspects seeking martyrdom. One of the cardinal principles of the prosecutor is to deprive a suspect seeking martyrdom the chance to achieve his objective. I can give specific examples from during the PNDC and NDC periods when we in the Office of the Attorney-General purposefully deprived suspects of their desire for martyrdom. No Attorney-General must allow the police and inferior courts to mess the government up with cases involving political opponents.

Incarcerating persons suspected of misdemeanours and minor felonies at the National Intelligence Bureau (NIB) holding cells in cases not being investigated by the NIB is abusive of the letter and spirit of the 1992 Constitution. We never allowed that to happen under our watch in the Attorney-General’s Offices when I served there cumulatively over a decade under the PNDC, NDC 1, 2, and 3 Governments.

Please, Dr Dominic Akuritinga Ayine, so many unpleasant things are happening under your watch within the short period you have been the Attorney-General. I have for personal reasons held my guns, in the hope that you would do the needful and leave behind a legacy of respect for democracy, the rule of law and constitutionalism as the principal legal advisor to this NDC government. Judge Samuel Bright Acquah has already done enormous damage to the image of the NDC government under your watch as the Attorney-General and nothing you do now can restore that abuse of the rights of the suspects he has denied bail on extra-judicial grounds because your office allowed them to happen without vigilance or on grounds of partisan political vindictiveness.

The foregoing examination of the ruling of Judge Samuel Bright Acquah in the case of The Republic v Kwame Baffoe @ Abronye exposes the judge as a danger to the legal profession,

the Judicial Service as a circuit court judge, the fundamental rights and freedoms of the citizen guaranteed under the 1992 Constitution, and as a person unfit to be a judge of any circuit court in Ghana.

Every reasonable and objective non-partisan reader of the ruling refusing bail in the case under discussion cannot fail to appreciate that Judge Samuel Bright Acquah does not possess the learning, integrity, and high moral character to remain on the Circuit Court let alone to be elevated to the Superior Court of Judicature.

The Republic of Ghana under the 1992 Constitution is not Animal Farm in which “ALL ANIMALS ARE EQUAL BUT SOME ANIMALS ARE MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS.” I hope and pray to God that Animal Farm is not the country President John Dramani Mahama wants to leave for Ghana as his legacy under Superior Court Justices like Samuel Bright Acquah. Mr President, listen to the elders in the room! God save Ghana and the 1992 Constitution!