Hot!
Adams Mahama muder: Afoko seeks bail pending retrial, but prosecution opposes
Lawyers of detained Gregory Afoko – one of the two persons held for the death of New Patriotic Party’s Upper East Regional Chairman, Adams Mahama has asked the High Court in Accra to admit him to bail.
Afoko, was on April 27, asked to remain in lawful custody after a seven member jury returned a 4-3 not guilty verdict in his favour on two counts of conspiracy and murder.
Following the hung jury, Justice Afua Merley Wood, a Justice of the Court of Appeal, sitting as an additional High Court judge, has ordered for his retrial.
Three weeks after, through his he filed an application for bail and same was moved by his counsel, Stephen Sowah Charway but it was opposed by the Prosecution led by Dorm Esi Fiadzo, the State Prosecutor.
The Criminal Division of the High Court in Accra presided over by Justice Louise Simmons, after listening to arguments from the parties fixed June 1 to deliver its ruling on the bail application.
Motion for bail
Lawyer Charway while moving the application argued that, the basis of their application was premised on the fact that his client has been in custody since May 21, 2015.
He recounted that, since then, there have been two full trials – the first trial he said lasted for about three years but it was aborted just as the parties were to address the court before summary.
The second trial, counsel said, also lasted for a little over three years – between 2019 and 2023, adding that, it went the full length after the state produced 16 witnesses.
He argued that, after the jury examined the evidence presented by the state, the trial ended with four members of the jury making a determination that the applicant (Afoko) was not guilty and three members thought otherwise and a retrial has been ordered as per the law.
Mystery bail
Counsel told the court that, before the case got to the concluding stages of the second trial, there was an application for bail, then bail was granted but for some mysterious reasons even though all the bail conditions were executed, the applicant was not released.
He said, consequently, there was a decision later where the bail was rescinded and the applicant remand for eight years with two full trials spanning a period of about six years
Counsel submitted that the continuous detention of the applicant is “unfair, is without any justification and is unconscionable.”
Counsel argued again that, it is the trite principle of law that an accused person presumed innocent until proven guilty.
He argued further that, just as he has a constitutional rights to fair trial and rights to be tried within a reasonable trial, there is also a constitutional right to bail of an accused person clearly stated in Article 14:4 of the 1992 Constitution.
Counsel argued that, while he has been in detention, the applicant has not behaved in any rebellious way or whatsoever.
The applicant, he said, had no previous conviction before his arrest eight years ago on May 21, 2015 as his guilt has not been proven.
He said just as the applicant met all the bail conditions in 2019, applicant is prepared to meet all the bail conditions, adding that, he is willing to avail himself as a citizen of the land for the retrial as ordered by the court.
Counsel again said, the applicant has furnished the court with two sureties who are full citizens of Ghana and are of sufficient means to execute the bail when granted*
Prosecution opposition
While opposing to the motion, the prosecution stated that, though the applicant was granted bail sometime in 2019, he was not able to fulfil all his bail conditions and that was why he is still in lawful custody.
The state Prosecutor contended that, all through in counsel’s submission, he kept on referring that the applicant had been detained unlawfully and it amounted to unfair, unconstitutional and unconscionable, that she said was not the case.
“We want to set the record straight that even though the Constitution guarantees personal liberty, the same Constitution has spelt out situations where that liberty can be curtailed and one of them is detention pending trial,” she argued.
The State Prosecutor said though it was a hung jury, as it stands now, he is presumed to be innocent but is not a free man until a jury comes out to acquit him.
She said he is currently in lawful custody and that there has not been an unreasonable delay in the case as the first trial was truncated because the 2nd accused (convicted Asabke Alangdi) who was on the run had been arrested.
Ready for Retrial
Following that, she said it was only proper that the case started De Novo since they were charged with conspiracy.
“We have followed due process and as at now, we are ready to go in (retrial) but we have to be assigned by the Chief Justice.
“Our witnesses are ready and they are eager to testify again,” and “as at now it is only the applicant so the case will go expeditiously,” she argued.
“We are assuring the applicant that he will be prosecuted within a reasonable time.
“We are submitting that when granted bail he will not appear to stand trial due to the severity of the trial,” Prosecution expressed.
She contended that, he (Afoko) can bring all the sureties in the world and give the justification but if the applicant absconds what will the state and the family of the deceased derive from the properties used for the justification.
“This is why we are ready to go the extra mile to ensure that justice is served,” the Prosecutor stated.
By Court
The court after listening to both counsel fixed June 1 to deliver her ruling on the application.
For Asabke Alangdi, who has since been found guilty by the jury for the charge of conspiracy to commit murder and has been sentenced to death, but has filed an appeal at the Court of Appeal challenging his conviction and subsequent sentencing.
Source: Starrfm.com.gh
President John Dramani Mahama has commissioned four career diplomats as ambassador-designates to represent Ghana in four countries.
The commissioning ceremony took place on Friday, October 16, 2026.
The new envoys are Her Excellency Nana Antwiwaa Dodoo, Ambassador-Designate to Angola; His Excellency Louis Kwame Obeng, Ambassador-Designate to Qatar; Her Excellency Evelyn Korantemaa Ofosu-Amable, Ambassador-Designate to Israel; and His Excellency Jedidiah Reuben Adogla, Permanent Representative-Designate to Switzerland.
President Mahama charged them to advance Ghana’s national interests through strategic partnerships, economic diplomacy, investment mobilization, and expanded access to international markets.
He said Ghana’s diplomatic engagements must deliver tangible economic benefits, create jobs, and strengthen the country’s standing on the international stage.
The four envoys are career diplomats with over 27 years of experience.
On behalf of her colleagues, Her Excellency Nana Antwiwaa Dodoo thanked the President for the confidence reposed in them and pledged their commitment to emulate his leadership and deliver on the mandate given to them.
By Edem Mensah-Tsotorme
The professor who spends his days exploring the intricacies of African languages found himself at the centre of a different kind of lesson on Friday, October 2, 2026. 
This time, there were no lecture notes, academic arguments or university classrooms. Instead, there was the weight of tradition, the rhythm of a community celebration and the solemnity of an oath at a royal palace.
Professor Ọbádélé Kambon, a full Professor of African Linguistics at the University of Ghana, was enstooled as Apagyahene and Sunsum Ɔsahene of Akuapem Mampong in the Eastern Region in a ceremony that brought academia and traditional authority together.
For the professor, the occasion was more than a new title. It was a moment that connected his academic interests in African languages and indigenous knowledge with the living traditions of an Akan community.
The day’s events unfolded through a series of customary observances. Kambon was first taken to the compounds of the Ɔkyeamehene and Gyasehene, where the preparations for his installation continued.
Then came the application of hyire, the white kaolin powder associated with traditional rites.
With the customary proceedings underway, the new chief was lifted onto the shoulders of celebrants and carried along the main thoroughfare of Akuapem Mampong.
The procession transformed the streets into a public stage for a ceremony rooted in the community’s traditional institutions.
There was something striking about the image, a university professor, accustomed to the measured language of academic discourse, being carried through the town in a display of traditional recognition.
Yet the celebration was not complete with the procession.
A ram was sacrificed at the Mamponghene’s compound before Kambon was taken to the palace, to swear the oath associated with his new offices.
The ceremony brought him formally into his roles as Apagyahene and Sunsum Ɔsahene.
Beyond the colourful proceedings, the titles themselves carry layers of historical meaning.
Kambon in his research explores the historical connections between Apagya and Akan political and military organisation.
Accounts cited in his work linked Apagya to an asafo, or military company, while historical writing traces an Apagya stool in Asante to the reign of Opoku Ware I in the eighteenth century.
These historical associations offer a glimpse into the institutions that have shaped Akan society over generations, although they do not automatically define the precise responsibilities of the office in Akuapem Mampong.
Kambon’s own professional life reflects a similar interest in preserving and examining African knowledge.
His work encompasses Akan language structure, naming practices across the Black world, proverbs and indigenous intellectual traditions.
Through Abibitumi, the platform he founded, he also promotes language learning, scholarship and cultural engagement.
But tradition was only one part of the story that day.
When the formal ceremony gave way to a reception, the occasion expanded into a celebration of three milestones: Kambon’s enstoolment, his promotion to full professor and his daughter Ama’s admission to the University of Ghana.
The gathering therefore carried a personal significance that went beyond the honours bestowed on one man. 
It celebrated professional advancement, the continuation of family aspirations and a connection to cultural heritage.
For a father, seeing a daughter gain admission to the same university where he holds a distinguished academic position offered another reason to celebrate.
For the professor, the moment placed family achievement alongside his own professional and traditional milestones.
Kambon had already established a place in the traditional life of Akuapem Mampɔn through an earlier installation as Banmuhene Kyidɔmhene, recorded in 2017.
His latest enstoolment adds another chapter to that relationship.
In Akuapem Mampɔn, the day brought together the university, the palace and the family table in one celebration. And for Kambon, the journey from the lecture room to the traditional procession showed how scholarship, cultural responsibility and family achievement could converge in a single memorable occasion.
By Enoch Ntiamoah Siaw
SKIP THE QUEUE, TAP THE NEWS
You can now read the Ghanaian Times and The Spectator newspapers from the comfort of your device via TimesNewsPlus.
Join our WhatsApp Channel: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VbBElzjInlqHhl1aTU27
