Feature: Unnecessary Bickering Contretemps

**External bodies – such as law enforcement agencies (e.g. EOCO Police) or private individuals seeking official Parliamentary actions – cannot serve legal processes, official summons or critical institutional letters directly to an MP on the premises … Prof. Aaron Mike Oquaye, Speaker 7th Parliament.

You may not be a logophile (lover of words) or a verbivore or a lexophile, so you may not bother about the right words to describe the ugly scene involving a lady from the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) and the Hon. Nana Agyei Baffour Awuah on Wednesday the 23rd day of September. Check scrap, tiff, bicker, spat, scuffle, skirmish, tussle, … you may disregard the nuances and pick “quarrel” because there was no “fight”, strictly speaking.

Unearth “contretemps” (origin: French) and the facts that it means; an awkward argument, embarrassing mishap, badly timed event. Bien, d’accord, Disregard William Shakespeare the logophile who added 1,7000 new words to the over -1 million English words with 171,000 actively used. A lady from EOCO confronts a lawyer who has just come out of a court where he had gone to seek bail for his client: Salomey Awiti Bafoe, a 40-year-old nurse at Techiman allegedly possessing information that is linked with “Ghana Jollof”, a social media critic, particularly unkind to President Mahama and his family. “Ghana Jollof” Barbara Asantewaa Kodua is wanted for spreading rumours of coups in Ghana and Nurse Awiti is said to be her associate.

The nurse, Salomey, had been picked up by national security operatives at around midnight, from her room at Techiman and whisked to Accra. Despite protestations by the Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives Association and the Women’s wing of NPP, Salomey was not released to go and care for her three children, including a 4-year-old baby.

Nana Agyei Baffour Awuah happened to be Salomey’s lawyer, and despite his solid arguments against the charge of being an accomplice of Ghana Jollof and helping her to disseminate videos on Tik-Tok as a liaison, it was a ‘no’ from the court.

Article 19 (2)(c) of the 1992 Constitution says: “A person charged with a criminal offence shall be presumed innocent until he is proved or has pleaded guilty…” So, why refuse bail at Adentan Circuit Court.

In Okoe v The Republic 1976 IGLR 80, Taylor J (as he then was) stated: “… bail is not a question as to the guilt or otherwise innocence of the person; it is rather a mechanism to ensure the certainty of (the accused) appearing to take their trial.

The judge at Adenta Her Honour Angela Attachie would not be swayed by Agyei Baffour Awuah’s argument. She used her judicial discretion to refuse bail and was guided by S96 (5) of the Criminal and Other Offences Act 1960 (Act 30): “The defendant (a) may not appear to stand trial; (b) may interfere with any witness or evidence; (c) may commit a further offence; (d) … charged with an offence punishable by imprisonment exceeding six months …” A “political twist” would be given. Mahamudu Bawumia (NPP) would write: “This is not the Ghana we want to build… remind the NDC government that any infringement on the right to free speech pushes our democracy backwards. Free speech, as unpalatable as it may be sometimes, is the foundation of our democracy… selective application of our laws. Some citizens can insult and walk freely and others are jailed because the government doesn’t like the target of their insults.

The scene at the foyer of the High Court was Hon. Agyei Baffour Awuah would not board the EOCO vehicle, but drive to EOCO in his own vehicle. The lady would not agree. The MP could be heard asking: “What shows that you are from EOCO?” Voices from the crowd: “Push her aside … … You want to arrest an MP … Mobekye yen nyinaa agu mu (You will arrest all of us and jail us) … please, leave the MP’s car …” Lawyer Enoch Afoakwa: “So you have slapped me …”

The MP got into his car and the EOCO lady unsuccessfully tried to open the back door. The EOCO lady jumped into a white pick-up and chased the MP. In our youth, we would describe the scene as “chase – and – chase”.

In R v Asante (1972) 2 GLR 177, the accused (Asante) refused to accede to the police invitation and beat up the policeman, Constable Mikporso Abalo for assaulting a school girl, Abena Kisiwaa … accused sentenced to a fine of ₦¢50.00. On appeal to the High Court, the judge, Justice Anterketyi said: “… the appeal is hereby allowed, and the conviction on each charge is hereby quashed and the appellant is accordingly acquitted and discharged on each charge”.

On October 31, 2021 (Sunday), police personnel attempted to arrest the Member of Parliament for Madina Constituency at the Believers House of Prayer Ministries at Ritz Junction, Madina. The priest could not “foresee” the arrest in a dream, and the glossolalia (speaking in tongues: a nonsensical utterance) could not be heard in Heaven (or Hell) – which led Hon. Muntaka Mubarak to come and whisk Hon. Francis Xavier Sosu to “safety”.

Hon. Sosu leading protesters to block the road and destroy public property during the demonstration dubbed, “Fix our Roads” on October 25, 2021. Article 117: “Civil or criminal process coming from any court or place out of Parliament shall not be served on, or executed in relation to, the Speaker or a member of, or the clerk to Parliament while he is on his way to, attending at or returning from, any proceedings of Parliament.” Hmmm! So, Parliament becomes a class of its own. Is The concept: “nobody is above the law applicable?

We would have believed Hon. Agyei Baffour Awuah, NDC was using the security authorities to ‘intimidate’ him if he had not called on TV3 Saturday 26/09/2026 programme, “Key Points” to “explain” issues; he admits EOCO’s explanation that [he] had been invited in February, 2026, to explain the GH¢2.2 million (₵22 billion) he collected from SIC as legal fee. The invitation letter dated 27th February, 2026, addressed to: Hon. Agyei Baffour-Awuah, Senior Partner, Sarkodie Baffour Awuah and Partners, No. 9 Wawa Drive, North Dzorwulu, Accra, stated. “Our letter of invitation dated February 10, 2026 referenced… was addressed to the Senior Partner in his capacity as the Senior Partner.” Signed: Raymond Archer. Political gains to NPP? Harrassment, intimidation?

Hon. Bernard Bediako, MP for Akwatia has waded into the melee. An attempt by EOCO to arrest Hon. Agyei Baffour-Awuah was not because of his representation of Salomey Awiti Baffoe, as claimed by Hon. Agyei Baffour Awuah, but because of a charge against him when he was the lawyer of SIC Life Insurance Limited**.** Equity Micro-Finance could not pay back a loan of GH¢6 million from SIC. When he (Hon. Agyei Baffour Awuah senior in law to Hon. Bediako was going to court, SIC gave him GH¢280,000”.

The Court awarded a judgment in favour of SIC for the sale of the Equity micro-finance company’s property … another company called Eco Swiss came into the frame claiming that Equity Micro Finance had sold the said property to them long ago … Eco Swiss gave Baffour Awuah GH¢2.2 million. What was this for? …

And Solomon Owusu, U-P’s Director of Communications has launched a blistering public attack on Hon. Agyei Baffour Awuah. He (Owusu) was following Hon. Agyei’s cases with “eagle eyes,” because he (the MP) had sabotaged him as his lawyer, leading to the collapse of his business, finally leading to Owusu breaking ties with the New Patriotic Party (NPP).

But why did the EOCO lady, Salomey, risk her own life in the process? Professor Kwaku Ansah Asare, former Director of Ghana School of Law says: “… by refusing or failing to display proper identification, the official risked her own safety and identification, and provided an avoidable physical scuffle.” Could the lady secure a defence? Check … volenti non injuria (to a willing person, injury is not done), a Roman legal maxim, from: “nulla injuria est, quae in volentem fiat.”

But, what would have happened if the Honourable MP Agyei Baffour Awuah had “respected” everybody, including himself, by honouring the earlier invitation? Now, an arrest warrant and search warrant have been issued…

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