Supreme Court to rule today on challenge to legal vacation warrants

The Supreme Court is expected to rule today, Friday, August 21, on a case challenging the constitutionality of administrative warrants issued by Chief Justice Paul Baffoe-Bonnie, which directed certain High Court judges to continue hearing cases during the legal vacation.

The suit was brought by Ofoase-Ayirebi MP Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, who is contesting the decision to allow selected criminal cases to proceed while the courts are officially on vacation.

The application questions whether the arrangement violates the constitutional rights of accused persons, particularly their entitlement to fair representation and to legal counsel of their choice.

Mr Oppong Nkrumah’s legal team has also raised objections to the Attorney General representing the Chief Justice, who is listed as a defendant in the case. Lawyer Frank Davies argued that the Chief Justice, as head of the independent judiciary, should have separate legal representation from the Executive.

At the heart of the case is the argument that continuing criminal proceedings during the legal vacation could undermine accused persons’ right to fair representation, especially where their lawyers had indicated that they were unavailable during the period.

Mr Davies clarified that the applicants were not asking the court to stop the criminal trials altogether. Rather, they are challenging the decision to continue the proceedings during the vacation when the lawyers involved were unavailable.

He further argued that, traditionally, criminal cases are heard during the legal vacation only after the availability and consent of the lawyers concerned, followed by the issuance of a warrant by the Chief Justice.

The lawyer also questioned why only certain criminal cases had been selected to continue during the vacation while other cases pending before the courts had not received similar priority.

The Supreme Court’s decision is therefore expected to determine whether the administrative warrants issued by the Chief Justice are constitutional and whether the selected criminal proceedings can continue during the legal vacation.