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An independent evaluation of the application of sections of the criminal procedure and other offences Act, 1960 (Act 30) as amended by juvenile justice Act, 2003 (Act 653) carried out by think tank,Center for Constitutional Order (CENCORD) revealed that the Ghana police Service has over the years failed to provide monthly report on unwarranted arrests to the district magistrate court as required by the law.

The evaluation indicates that nearly one million people have been victims of arbitrary arrest by the police without just cause or warrant over the last 56 years and without any record to show the circumstances and the basis for the arrest Under Section 16 of Act 30 as amended, “Officers in charge of [a] police station shall report monthly to the nearest District Magistrate cases of all persons arrested without warrant within the limits of their respective stations and not subsequently charged with an offence, whether those persons have been admitted to bail or not.”

According to the Executive Director of CENCORD, Kofi Belley, the Code regulates the criminal law and procedure to be followed in summary and indictable proceedings. Since 1960, the Ghana Police Service has not lived the section 16 of the Criminal Procedure Act, 1960 (Act 30) as amended by Juvenile Justice Act, 2003 (Act 653). The amazing thing is that the courts have condoned these legal infractions over the last 56 years without any sign of reprimand.”

CENCORD has, therefore, called on the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to comply with the law by furnishing the Magistrates’ Courts with the monthly reports of those that they have arrested without warrant and were not charged, starting with the report for August 2016.
The Center engaged and contacted over 31 Registrars and 25 Magistrates of District Magistrate Courts across the ten (10) Regions of the Republic of Ghana on this law between January 16, 2016 and August 15, 2016.

CENCORD is an independent, nonpartisan, non-profit organisation that is dedicated to advancing and protecting the rights guaranteed by the Constitution of Ghana together with all international legal regimes to which Ghana is an actor.