Lawyer and Senior Vice President of IMANI Africa, Kofi Bentil, has questioned the circumstances surrounding the arrest of lawyer Baffour Awuah, saying that the failure to clearly state the charge against him raises serious procedural concerns.

Speaking on JoyNews’ Newsfile on Saturday, October 3, during a discussion on the Baffour Awuah-EOCO case and related matters, Mr Bentil said authorities should be able to tell an arrested person why they are being detained.

“My first question is, what has he been charged with?” he asked.

Mr Bentil said the issue was important because the exercise of state power to arrest an individual must be accompanied by a clear explanation of the reason for the arrest.

“You and I know that to arrest somebody, you tell the person what they are being arrested for,” he said.

“So there’s a certain procedural problem there, and that is a big issue.”

Mr Bentil said his concerns were heightened by the fact that, according to him, Mr Awuah had still not been charged after several days.

“If you amass the powers of the state to go after a person in the proper performance of his duties in this manner, and you have not even after three days charged the person, I see a big problem,” he said.

He acknowledged that Mr Awuah had been arrested but questioned what offence he was alleged to have committed.

“Have they arrested him? Yes,” Mr Bentil said.

“But I say that if at this point we don’t know what he’s being charged with, I see a problem there.”

It was this uncertainty that led him to question whether the investigation was being pursued without a clearly established offence.

“I think there’s a fishing expedition going on,” he said.

Mr Bentil also questioned why the matter had escalated to the level of a criminal investigation and arrest, arguing that, based on his understanding, the dispute appeared to be a civil matter involving a lawyer and a client.

“Because as far as I can see, this is a civil matter between a lawyer and a client, and I don’t know why it rises to the point,” he said.

He also questioned the priorities of state investigative agencies, saying there were other matters in the country that, in his view, demanded more urgent scrutiny.

“And I’m saying there are so many other things going on today in this country which absolutely warrant far more intense investigation which are left undone,” he said.

Despite his concerns about the arrest and the absence of a clearly stated charge, Mr Bentil said the matter should be allowed to proceed through Ghana’s legal and institutional processes.

He said the country’s democratic system had established institutions with defined responsibilities and that those institutions should operate within the law.

“So look, we will all wait for the process,” he said.

“We set up this democracy with institutions to perform their duties according to law. And at the end of the day, we will be able to assess what has been done,” he said.