"Your Priorities Appear Mixed" - Oliver Barker-Vormawor Thrown Out By Supreme Court
The wish of beleaguered "E-Levy coup plotter" that the Supreme Court would compel a district court to correct what the former considered as a "grave error of law which error is patent on the face of the record", turned into a dissillusion.
This was after the apex court on Wednesday struck out a case filed by lawyers for #FixTheCountry Movement convener, Oliver Barker-Vormawor, challenging his arraignment at the district court.
The Supreme Court justices pointed out that the application was problematic since it sought to trigger the court’s interpretative and supervisory jurisdiction simultaneously.
Client's Rights & Liberty First
The Supreme court wondered why lawyers for the embattled #FixTheCountry Movement campaigner led by Akoto Ampaw and Justice Srem Sai, failed to make an application for bail at the High Court but are rather seeking its intervention.
“You have an individual’s liberty at stake. You embark on this journey to this Court. You want us to interpret this constitution in a mixed application. Your duty is to protect your client’s rights. Your priorities are mixed,” panel member Justice Kulendi said.
“Is this the time for this intellectual exercise? Should you not be taking a pragmatic approach,” another panel member Gertrude Torkonoo added.
IGP & A-G In Court
The Inspector General of Police (IGP) and the Attorney-General (AG) were dragged to the Supreme Court by lawyers for the youth activist on the back of an earlier ruling to arraign their client before a district court rather than a court that could determine his liberty
They had wanted the Court to determine whether the Police have discharged their constitutional duty by sending their client to a court with no jurisdiction to consider a bail application.
According to them, the ruling of the High Court ‘B’, Tema, dated February 17, 2022, entails a grave error of law which error is patent on the face of the record.
But after the Court had questioned the processes filed by Oliver-Vormawor's legal team and failure by same to apply for bail seeking the liberty of their client per the advice of the District Court Magistrate on February 28, 2022, the youth activist's lawyers then informed the Court they wanted to withdraw the case.
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