The Ghana Bar Association (GBA) has expressed shock at Thursday’s show of bravado by vigilante group Delta Force at the KMA Circuit Court.
The group, members of which are affiliated with the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), stormed the Court and literally set free some of their members who are standing trial for assaulting a public officer.
Their action had been sparked in court by an order by presiding judge Mary Senkyere to remand the 13 on-trial members in prison custody.
They were made to escape through the bench’s exit in sheer effrontery.
In a statement issued hours after the issue took the nation by storm, lawyers in the country say they are sickened and horrified watching the video, which has since gone viral.
“The GBA condemns in no uncertain terms this blatant disregard for the orders of a duly constituted court of law and attack on the judge in the discharge of her lawful duties,” said the statement jointly signed by National President Benson Nutsukpui and National Secretary Justin Amenuvor.
It further said the action is an affront to the independence of the judiciary, which is an essential ingredient to the consolidation of democracy under the current constitution.
“This certainly has no place under the 1992 Constitution of Ghana,” it said about the violence.
It made three important calls which demand immediate attention, it added.
One was on the Inspector General of Police (IGP) “to immediately re-arrest the 13 persons ordered to be remanded” and “cause a thorough investigation of the incident to ensure that all persons who played any role whatsoever in the attack on the court are arrested, duly charged and prosecuted”.
Second was a call on the Minister of Interior “to as a matter of urgency take steps to ensure the immediate disbandment of the ‘Delta Force’ and all other vigilante groups that have sprung up in our country”.
Third was for well-meaning Ghanaians “to condemn this resort to violence in flagrant disobedience of court orders”.
Already, the police have issued a bench warrant for the arrest of the 13 while eight of the men who masterminded the escape in court have been arrested.
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