THE BAR ASSOCIASTION DOES NOT HAVE TO WAIT ARE WE RIGHT OR WRONG? 
 
The time has come for the Bar association to serve as a union for the defence of civil liberties. The Association belongs to professionals whose very survival depends on the maintenance of a society based on laws. In a society without laws or where the laws are honoured with total disregard, there will be no legal processes and no need for lawyers. The Bar association should therefore be most interested in the maintenance and observance of the rule of law. It has vested interest in preserving a society based on justice and law.
 
Our reporters have reported cases of individuals charged with offences and are denied bail only to be remanded in custody for more than two weeks before the commencement of their cases. Just laws are very jealous in protecting the liberty of the human person. The liberty of the person is the foundation of human rights law. A person who is not free cannot exercise all his or her other rights to the full. This is why the law has created all avenues for an accused person to appear at a later date to hear the allegations made against him or her and defend his or her innocence if sufficient proof is given to create doubt.
 
Bail conditions are not meant to punish an accused person. They are designed to enable a person who is not convicted of any crime to move about freely until the time established to appear before the court is up. They are meant to give meaning to the principle of the presumption of innocence. A person should be punished only if he is found guilty of committing a crime.
 
Foroyaa has quoted section 162 of the Criminal Code which states, among other things, that, "Before or during the hearing of any case, it shall be lawful for the court in its discretion to adjourn the hearing to a certain time ….Provided that no such judgment shall be for more than fifteen clear days, or if the accused has been committed to prison, for more than seven clear days, the day following that on which the adjournment is made being counted as the first."
 
This is clear. If a trial cannot proceed within 7 days interval the accused person should be granted bail. Are we wrong in our interpretation? The members of the Bar should therefore insist on this by appealing to the higher courts to redress such anomalies in the administration of the Law. These matters should not be taken as trivial matters. Any day a person spends behind bars because of maladministration of the law constitutes a miscarriage of justice. 
 
We hope the bar will follow all cases where people are detained beyond 72 hours without trial or are not granted bail when the law grants them the right. Discretion which is limited by law is not absolute. We are willing to share specific cases with the members of the Bar so that they serve as the judicial conscience of the Nation.





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