Suspects have every right to demand reasons for their arrest - Police Chief Inspector

Chief Inspector Mark Kwabena Okyere, the Station Officer at the Drobo Police Station says any suspect has the constitutional and human right privilege to demand reasons for his or her arrest.

He however reminded the police also have every right to use any reasonable force to apprehend suspects who attempted to resist arrest.

Chief Insp. Okyere said this when he was speaking at a sensitization forum on the Justice Sector Support (JSS) Activity of the Ghana Case Tracking System (CTS) held at Babianeha, near Drobo in the Jaman South District of the Bono Region.

The Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI), a non-governmental organisation, with support from MIHOSO International Foundation, its local partners organised the forum to sensitize the community on the CTS and the JSS Activity.

Chief Insp. Okyere reminded that any bailable offence did not attract fees or charges, but free instead, and added it was the responsibility of the police to grant suspects bail either the complainant is around or not around.

He emphasised that the police had discretionary powers to either invite or arrest a suspect depending on the level of the offence, and warned the public against meting instant justices on suspects, saying those who do so would also be arrested and prosecuted as well.

Mr Thomas Benarkuu, the Programmes Director of MIHOSO International and a Coordinator of the CTS indicated access to justice remained a fundamental human right everybody must enjoyed.

He however expressed worry that many Ghanaians were denied access to justice because of the lack of knowledge on the country's justice delivery system, hence the need to sensitize and empower the populace to understand their rights.

Nana Takyi Tuah, the Chief of Babianeha lauded the JSS Activity and the CTS, and expressed the hope that the NGO CHRI and its funding partners to extend and sustain the project for benefit majority of the populace.

The CTS, is an integrated software that tracks criminal cases in the justice delivery system from its inception until their disposition.

Funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the government launched the CTS in 2018 to provide information about criminal cases at every stage in the justice delivery system.

Since then, the system has been set up in the six key justice sector institutions, including the Ghana Police Service, Economic and Organised Crime Unit (EOCO), the Attorney General, Legal Aid Commission, Judicial Service to track cases.

But, the CHRI says it was unhappy about implementation of the CTS so far, and called on the government and stakeholders in the sector to help tackle the challenges impeding the system’s implementation in the country.