The High Court in Accra has adjourned to September 24 the hearing of a bail application filed on behalf of Salomey Baffoe, who is accused of abetting the publication of false information by a social media account under the name 'Ghana Jollof' on TikTok.

The adjournment followed a request by the prosecution for additional time to respond to the defence’s application for bail.

Assistant State Attorney Carl Afedzi Forson told the court that he was not the substantive lawyer handling the case and had been informed that the Attorney-General’s Office was served with the bail application last Friday.

He explained that Monday was a public holiday and, consequently, the application had not yet been assigned to a lawyer within the office for a response.

The prosecution therefore asked the court for a short adjournment to enable the State to prepare and file its response.

Counsel for Baffoe, Nana Agyei Baffour Awuah, opposed the request, arguing that the application concerned the liberty of his client and should not be treated in the same manner as a civil proceeding where parties are required to observe three clear days for service.

He maintained that there was evidence that the prosecution had been served with the application and noted that the State had not claimed it had been short-served.

According to the defence, applications involving the liberty of an accused person could be heard even over weekends, meaning the relevant period for the State to respond should continue to run despite the public holiday on Monday.

Mr Awuah further argued that the prosecution had had sufficient time to respond to the application.

He cautioned that further delays could undermine the purpose of the bail application, particularly as Baffoe would have spent about two weeks in custody by the time the State filed and served its response.

In its ruling on the adjournment request, the court acknowledged that the liberty of the applicant was at stake and stressed that the State could not take the matter for granted.

The court subsequently adjourned the bail application to September 24.

It directed the Republic to file any processes it intended to rely on and serve them on the defence by 9:00 a.m. on the scheduled date.

Baffoe remains in custody pending the determination of her bail application.