Be bold to advice against prosecution where there is no evidence

Kumasi, Aug. 21, GNA - The Ashanti Regional President of the Ghana Bar Association (GBA), Mr Dennis Adjei, has appealed to staff of the Attorney General's Department to have the courage to advise against prosecution of cases where there is not strong evidence to secure judgment in the state's favour.

Additionally, they should properly supervise police prosecutors and to make sure that the right things were done.

Mr Adjei was speaking at the opening of a three-day conference for Regional Heads of the Attorney General's Department in Kumasi. He drew attention to the need for regular training of police prosecutors most of whom, he said, were inexperienced.

This, he said, was necessary because "inexperienced prosecution is likely to breed injustice as a person may commit a crime and get acquittal due to the inexperience of the prosecutor."

Mr Adjei said it would not be out of place to encourage the engagement of private legal practitioners for prosecution with the aim to replacing the police prosecutors in the circuit courts as they were handicapped when it came to legal matters.

"In Ghana, the key gate keeping responsibility is with the Attorney General but the police have taken over this role." It is the AG's staff who should determine who should be prosecuted and not the police and that the power should not be vested with the police who double as investigators and prosecutors", he said. Another source of concern, he said, was the apathetic attitude to civil matters by the Attorney General's Department, resulting in default judgments against government institutions represented by the department.

Mr Adjei suggested that the staff of the department should be supported to pursue further studies in the emerging areas like oil and gas and commercial law to enable them to prove equal to challenges of globalization.

The Ashanti Regional Police Commander, Assistant Commissioner of Police Patrick Timbillah, said it was not the duty of the police to prosecute but to arrest, investigate and put suspects before court. "It is the duty of the state attorneys to prosecute and if the police are to be taken on board, they should be given the requisite training" he said.

Miss Ama Gaisie, the Solicitor-General of the Attorney General's Department, told personnel of the department to be honest, courageous and upright in dealing with all persons.

She assured them that the government would do everything possible to make service conditions for the staff of the department attractive. Paapa Dadson, a private practitioner and a member of the Legal Services Board, appealed to government to ensure that personnel in the department had regular courses and orientations on the changing situations of law practice to improve upon justice delivery.