Private legal practitioner Justice Abdulai has accused Ghana’s security agencies of being the country’s biggest violators of constitutional rights, describing what he called a long-standing culture of unlawful arrests and disregard for due process.
Speaking on JoyFM’s Top Story on Monday, July 6, in the wake of lawyers seeking a court order over the arrest of former National Food Buffer Stock Company (NAFCO) Chief Executive Officer Hanan Abdul-Wahab Aludiba, the lawyer said security operatives routinely flout constitutional safeguards guaranteed to every citizen.
According to him, any arrest that denies a suspect immediate access to bail where applicable, legal representation, communication with family members, or information about their rights is unlawful.
“I need to say without any shred of doubt in the minds of anyone that any unlawful arrest, in fact any arrest, whatever the nature of the arrest may be, that does not commit into the admission of that person into a bail or that does not give access to that person to a counsel of his choice, informing his family members and all, and being able to communicate with his family in particular and his lawyers is an unlawful exercise of the authority granted whoever is effecting the arrest,” he said.
Justice Abdulai argued that such violations are not isolated incidents but reflect a systemic problem within Ghana’s security architecture.
“I also need to insist on this, that indeed our security agencies have been the biggest abusers of this constitutional right of the Ghanaian. And this is not limited to the police. The BNI, the national security, they are the biggest abusers of our constitutional rights in this country. And it’s been one too many. And it didn’t start from today,” he stated.
He said the conduct of some security personnel suggests they continue to operate with a mindset inherited from military rule rather than under a constitutional democracy.
“It is as though it’s part of the culture and the system that they operate with. They take joy in abusing the rights of Ghanaians without any form of shame. After almost 35 years of constitutional democracy, our security agencies still have not grown and matured enough to understand that there is a different regime that we are operating under,” he said.
The private legal practitioner stressed that arrests must always be carried out in accordance with the law, with suspects informed of their rights and treated in line with constitutional provisions.
He also criticised what he described as a broader institutional failure, arguing that the courts have, in many instances, failed to firmly address repeated violations by security agencies.
According to him, many victims are reluctant to pursue legal action because they simply want to regain their freedom rather than engage in prolonged litigation against state institutions.
“But truth is that we need a lot more people to take up that bold decision. Because that is the only way we can get our institutions to think right, to mature, and to come to that conclusion that we are no longer under a lawless system.
“We are now under a constitutional democracy. And so things must be done in accordance with the law, not in accordance with who holds the power. That is a thing of the past, and we need to grow up to that reality,” he said.
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