Renowned legal practitioner and journalist Samson Lardy Anyenini is urging restraint and a return to basic legal principles in the public pursuit of accountability.
The host of Newsfile insists that criminal trials must adhere to due process and cannot be replaced with remote accusations or shortcuts.
“Trial is not a Zoom call,” he wrote. “We do not commence criminal proceedings with a trial in absentia.”
His comments come in the wake of a high-profile move by Ghana’s Office of the Special Prosecutor to declare former Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta wanted and to place him on an INTERPOL red notice.
But Mr. Anyenini warned against what he described as an erosion of the fundamental rights enshrined in the justice system.
“Arrest, detention, and restriction are globally accepted means of enforcing law and order,” he said. “When you offend or breach public law, you encounter the Republic.”
He explained that public law offences, unlike private disputes, must follow clearly laid down legal paths.
“It is not a private legal matter left to two individuals to decide how to remedy a breach of contract,” he said.
“The law does not allow me the option to hit and run, nor does it permit charges to be filed in my absence—never in the first instance.”
Using practical illustrations, he argued that criminal accountability starts with physical presence, arrest, or lawful summons.
“If I break a traffic regulation, hit and kill someone, the Republic deals with me. The ultimate goal is to ensure I do not pose a danger to other road users like you.”
Mr. Anyenini made it clear that even in cases where there is no direct harm, the State must intervene to protect the public.
“If I am fortunate enough not to have harmed anyone in the process, the Republic may restrict my driving, require me to attend a refresher course, or undergo counselling—all in the interest of protecting others.”
He rejected vigilante-style accountability or media-led justice as unacceptable. “We do not live in a jungle where the strongest survive,” he said.
“My neighbours must not resort to vigilante justice—stoning my house or car, or attempting to kill me simply because they can.”
Instead, Mr. Anyenini insisted, legal systems must be allowed to function. “The proper course of action is for me to be arrested, detained, or restricted by the police, always under the supervision of a court.”
He pointed to the universally accepted steps in criminal trials—suspect, charge, court, plea—noting that a court must be involved from the outset.
“In an orderly society, I will first be treated as a suspect, then as an accused person who is formally charged.”
Even for minor offences, he added, shortcuts are not permitted unless the law explicitly allows.
“If the offence is a very minor one, one for which the highest custodial sentence is just three months, the court (never the accused) has the discretion to allow a written plea… This process happens within the courtroom, never elsewhere.”
He dismissed the notion that criminal defendants can be tried without ever appearing in court. “Personal attendance in criminal trials is never automatically dispensed with in Ghana or anywhere else,” he said.
“Arrest warrants, criminal summons, bail, and the issuance of bench warrants (during trials) serve as mechanisms to uphold this requirement.”
Mr Anyenini warned of the consequences of ignoring due process and embracing expediency.
“Society fails in its duty when individuals accused of taking another’s life are given the option to be tried in their absence, convicted only on paper, yet remain free in reality.”
The journalist’s final caution was direct and uncompromising: “To order society properly, we must uphold due process, ensure fairness in legal proceedings, and prevent injustice from prevailing.”
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