Bail which makes it impossible for the person to honour is unconstitutional - Kofi Bentil

Vice President of IMANI Africa, Kofi Bentil, says Ghana’s bail system has been “weaponised” and is being used to punish suspects before they are convicted.

According to him, the practice of imposing unreasonable bail conditions defeats the purpose of bail, which is to ensure accused persons return to court while preserving their constitutional rights.

Speaking on the KeyPoints, Mr Bentil argued that once a person is arrested, authorities should ensure they are brought before a court within the required period rather than keeping them in custody through difficult bail conditions.

“If you arrest the person, take them before a judge. As long as we continue to allow them to give bail, you will see the problem that you’re seeing. Bail has been weaponised,” he said on July 17.

He explained that bail is not meant to serve as punishment, but rather to guarantee that an accused person appears before court.

Mr Bentil said placing conditions on bail that make it impossible for suspects to meet the requirements defeats the constitutional purpose of the process.

“The only purpose of bail, being one of the many judicial processes, is to make sure the person will return. So, when you give the person bail which makes it impossible or even difficult for the person to honour it, in my view, it is unconstitutional.”

The Imani Africa Vice President said the trend has been observed under successive governments, including the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP).

“If you ask the question, has bail been weaponised? It is not my opinion. The experience in the last 10 years of this country, under the NDC and the NPP, is that bail has been weaponised because we see unreasonable bail conditions being placed in front of people.”

Mr Bentil also raised concerns about the impact of prolonged detention on suspects, warning that delays in providing medical attention could have fatal consequences.

He recounted instances where people allegedly died while in custody after their health concerns were not addressed promptly.

“You throw somebody in for three days, you deny them care, they can die,” he said.

He stressed that protecting the rights of accused persons should not be viewed as support for criminal activity.

“When you deal with people and say you are supporting criminals, no. If it happens to that person, it will happen to you tomorrow.”

Mr Bentil called for reforms to Ghana’s legal system, including exploring alternatives such as self-recognizance bail and other monitoring measures.

He said the justice system must balance public safety with the protection of individual freedoms.

“If they are properly determined to be guilty, we put them in jail. But to use bail the way we are using it, it is wrong. Let us improve our legal system so people go through the proper system.”