The Constitution is the supreme law of Ghana. All Security Agencies with powers of arrest – Ghana Police Service, Bureau of National Investigations (BNI), Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO), Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP), National Security, and Ghana Immigration Service – are set up by statute subject to the provisions of the Constitution. As such, all these institutions are required to operate within the limits of the provisions of the Constitution.

Article 14(2) of the 1992 Constitution is unmistakably clear:
“A person who is arrested, restricted or detained shall be informed immediately, in a language that he understands, of the reasons for his arrest, restriction or detention and of his right to a lawyer of his choice.”

A person arrested, restrained or detained SHALL be informed IMMEDIATELY of his RIGHT to a LAWYER of his choice. The arresting security agency does not have the right or luxury under the Constitution to decide whether or not to grant an arrested person access to a lawyer. In fact, the arresting security agency is required by the Constitution to inform the arrested person immediately of his right to a lawyer. And if the Constitution provides that access to a lawyer is a right of the suspect, then it does not lie with the arresting authority to decide whether or not to grant the suspect access to their lawyer.

The practice of detaining suspects for hours and days without granting them access to their lawyers is unconstitutional and amounts to blatant abuse of power, impunity and lawlessness on the part of the security agencies. Persons arrested must refuse to cooperate with security agencies and refuse to answer any questions until they have been granted access to their lawyers. Ghana is a democracy governed by a constitution, not a banana republic! Let the security agencies stop the lawlessness! A reset must mean exactly that, not retrogression.

Kwaku Antwi-Boasiako, Accra
July 7, 2025