What was thought to be a harmless admonition to his longtime friend on the Supreme Court bench on the public sentiments about certain rulings, has landed a 64-year-old, a retired quantity surveyor with the State Housing Corporation (SHC) in prison custody, after he was arrested by operatives of National Security.
Livingstone Bosoo, was last Friday, May 6, 2022, arrested in Ho, the Volta Regional capital and dragged to Accra in the dark of night for allegedly threatening a Justice of the Supreme Court.
This paper’s information is that, the said Supreme Court judge is none other than Justice Jones Mawulorm Dotse. The two had been friends for over 30 years.
The Herald’s information is that he was kept for two days at the Blue Gate, at the National Security Secretariat and later taken to Ministries Police station in Accra, before being arraigned to court on Monday and later remanded.
This comes, despite the recent damning report from the United States on Ghana’s human rights records under the Akufo-Addo administration.
More Read
The charge sheet is yet to be obtained by his lawyers, but it is not clear, if Justice Jones Dotse is mentioned on it as the complainant. Mr Bosoo, was said to be the only one in the courtroom on the day with the prosecutor and judge who remanded him to police custody.
Ahead of the court appearance, his lawyer, Jerry John Asiedu, had informed the police prosecutor, Inspector Asiedu Brobbey, about being his lawyer, however, the police dragged him to the courtroom, without legal representation. He is currently at the Ministries Police Station on remand. The investigator is currently searching for the said text, as it is to have gone missing from Mr Bosso’s phone.
The arrest comes few weeks after the National Security Minister, Albert Kan Dapaah, incurred the displeasure of elements within the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) including the NPP’s Legal Committee Chairman, Frank Davies, for warning that the perception that the judiciary was biased in favour of Akufo-Addo government, has dire consequences on the country’s security.
The judge and Mr Bosoo, have been described as well-known friends. The two had lived and worked in the Volta Regional capital, Ho, until the judge then popularly called “Lawyer Jones” left his private law practice.
He moved to Accra and practiced at Dick Anyaadi and Associates as a lawyer, ahead of his appointment as a High Court Judge, then to the Court of Appeal and subsequently to the Supreme Court by ex-President John Agyekum Kufuor, in record time.
About four plain-clothed men who were accompanied by a uniformed police officer on Friday picked Mr Bosoo, Justice Dotse’s friend, in a black Toyota Land Cruiser vehicle without any explanation to the suspect or his family.
A relative of the suspect told Citi News that his father was “arrested in a Rambo style and taken to the National Security’s Blue Gate facility without any explanations”.
Mr Bosoo’s relatives, had indicated that information available to the family indicates that he was being arrested because he sent a text message to a Supreme Court Judge, who is his old-time friend, cautioning him and the bench to be circumspect in their judgments, in order not to court the public’s disaffection for both the bench and the court.
The lawyer for the suspect, Jerry John, told Citi News that Mr Bosso, was on Monday morning “Surreptitiously arraigned without informing the families or his lawyer. He was told to plead guilty to whatever charges read to him with a promise that the judge will immediately pardon and discharge him with an instruction to apologise to the Supreme Court judge”.
Mr Jerry John Asiedu also said Mr Bosso told him that he was told by police prosecutor, Inspector Asiedu Brobbey not to let his family know he was being taken to court with the assurance that he would be discharged upon admitting guilt.
“As it stands, we have not seen the charge sheet, we do not know what Mr Bosso has been charged with and why he is being remanded,” Jerry John further told Citi News.
Mr Bosoo was, however, remanded into police custody to reappear before the court on May 23, 2022.
Speaking during a sensitisation workshop on the national security strategy for judges of the superior courts, Mr Kan-Dapaah cautioned against such characterisations stressing they could mar the security structure and established systems of justice.
He had insisted that citizens may be forced to take the law into their own hands for personal satisfaction if the bench is deemed to be biased.
In recent months, the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) in particular has accused the judiciary of being biased because the party has lost a string of cases before the courts.
“Injustice occasioned as a result of the absence of an effective justice delivery system or delayed justice or biased justice is certainly a threat to national security. Indeed, when injustice abounds, particularly in situations where the bench, which is considered the final arbiter of disputes, is deemed biased, citizens tend to take the law into their own hands most times without recourse to the established systems of justice delivery,” he said.
He added that the judiciary’s role is paramount in helping to safeguard the security of the nation; hence, the need to have proper engagements that can sensitise judges to be able to deal with emerging threats that come to them.
Although justice tends to be overlooked, Mr Dapaah said peace, stability and security cannot be achieved without justice.
“Justice is the foundation upon which the rule of law, equality before the law and fairness of the law are established. The failure of the criminal justice system to ensure effective and expeditious trial of criminals adversely impacts the morale of law enforcement agencies, emboldens criminals to perpetrate more crime, and breeds lawlessness among the citizenry; developments which threaten the internal security of the State.”
“The need to safeguard our collective security as a State requires that we work assiduously to eliminate all forms of injustice.
“The ultimate responsibility in doing so lies squarely at the feet of members of Ghana’s judicial system who are entrusted by law with the power to ensure effective justice delivery,” he stated.
The NPP’s Legal Committee Chairman, Frank Davies, has taken on National Security Minister Kan Dapaah for his comments suggesting judges should balance their judgements.
According to him, the Minister’s comments are misplaced because “saying that one political party is in power [so] the justices should be mindful of how they interpret the law is completely lopsided.
“National security would be threatened in what way? So, what? The judges are supposed to balance the equation? They give five judgements in favour of the NPP and give another five in favour of the NDC?
“It’s not a sharing party. I really respect Kan Dapaah a lot but I think maybe he got the context completely wrong,” he said in an interview with JoyNews.
Frank Davies disagrees with the position of the National Security Minister as he has openly expressed a contrary view.
“I think that statement was made completely out of context. You don’t dispense justice in tandem with whichever political party holding the reins of government.
“…who determines who has tilted the interpretation of the law? I think it was just a misplaced statement,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Director of the National Democratic Congress (NDC)’s Legal Directorate, Abraham Amaliba, has said that the National Security Minister spoke from a position of a national security person who has more information.
He called on the judges to heed the advice.
“I totally disagree with Frank Davies. I think that the Minister of National Security was actually speaking about what most Ghanaians think about the judiciary and being the National Security officer, he would have gotten some information.”
In a related development, a former Attorney-General, Nii Ayikoi Otu, has called the bluff of the National Security Minister over his caution that if the Judiciary is perceived to be biased, it would have dire consequences on the country’s security.
He told Joy FM that the Minister did not seek legal advice before making the statement.
“I’m sorry to say that I don’t think he sought legal advice on this matter. But, if he did, he wouldn’t be going around saying what he’s saying,” he said.
But a security analyst, Prof. Kwesi Aning has said that the admonishment by the National Security Minister, Albert Kan Dapaah, to the judiciary does not amount to an accusation against the institution.
Prof. Anning believes the Minister only cautioned that some rulings have national security threats.
He therefore urged the public to take the Minister’s caution seriously.
He also asked some prominent lawyers in the country to add their voices to the conversation.
