The initial most important weapon for the nCovid19 war in Ghana was a five-page piece of paper, Imposition of Limits Act (IRA 2020) handed by Parliament to empower the President to concern orders moderately needed for our protection and well being. Certainly, it is, largely, for our unique security and collective security that some eight Executive Instruments (EIs) have so significantly been issued.
The pandemic’s devastating chaos has intended what was lawful when you went to mattress, may perhaps become unlawful in the early morning. Some citizens who could not find the money for a fantastic of ¢13,000 have been thrown into jail for 4 several years for heading to church. A couple of months ago, police knowledgeable us in excess of 400 men and women experienced been arrested and face a equivalent destiny. They were not arrested for thieving they only stepped out of their residences to go about what experienced been their regular legit business enterprise.
However, other folks acquired into issues for organizing functions to rejoice a birthday. We advocated and now on the again of the electrical power for E.I. 61 (i.e. the Community Well being Act 2012), a directive has been issued to make sporting masks compulsory. This may well not arrive with criminal sanctions, but the steerage for the appropriate and hygienic use of the masks is essential.
In his 8th broadcast, the President repeated his pleas for full compliance, and issued a stern warning that these who by their steps breach the lawful actions and compromise our protection will not be spared. He pleaded for collective patriotic guidance to deal ruthlessly with these kinds of perform. Classic authorities have presented aid to police their areas of jurisdiction in the fascination of their men and women.
The Okyehene put a ban on palace courtroom hearings. But yesterday, there was the installation of a paramount chief in the Eastern Area. The movies present a jubilant crowd with Condition protection guarding a clear breach of the President’s lawful orders against general public gatherings, festivals, workshops, political rallies, religious gatherings, and so on. On best of the violation, the folks of Akuapem had been put in risk as there was no observation of social distancing and some did not don a mask.
This arrives at a time the EC did anything that smacks of disregard for the similar regulation even immediately after a courtroom gave an injunction towards the non-exempt institution. The Superior Court docket briefly stopped it from conducting a national workshop for its officers in preparations for achievable elections in December mainly because of a match asserting the workshop was an nCovid19 prohibited act. MP Sam George also resorted to an similarly unlawful process to enforce the courtroom order by leading a group to consider to avoid what he alleged was a relocation of the workshop stopped by the court docket.
What do all these functions smacking of impunity and disregard for legislation and administration of justice ordinarily connect to the everyday citizen? The police who arrested violators, received some having to pay hefty monetary fines and some in jail, how will they explain their subsequent actions to the above 400 citizens they are prosecuting? Will the President or Federal government deal with the newest violation by basically condemning it?
Ghana’s Constitution in short article 17 declares and reinforces a common principle of legislation that “[a]ll folks shall be equal right before the law”. Let’s be cautious how we utilize the regulation in advance of State actors eliminate the ethical authority to implement the legislation.
Meantime, remember to ignore those people blaming a choose for performing a little something completely wrong in granting the injunction. Then political interpretation that the injunction was granted only from the venue of the workshop is not supported by the courtroom order or ruling. It is the top of absurdity to recommend that an celebration criminalized by the IRA and E.I. 64/67 ceases to be an offence when relocated from Prampram to Accra, when it is not the area that will make the act an offence.
Yet again, if you take the perspective that a court docket get or judgment is invalid or is created in mistake, the law’s prerequisite is that you take methods to have it established apart or quashed by the court, and not by to start with disregarding or disobeying it.
Samson Lardy ANYENINI
Could 2, 2020
