REPUBLIC vs. AKYAMPONG

JUDGMENT OF ARCHER J. The appellant pleaded guilty to a charge of pretending to be a public officer contrary to section 237 of the Criminal Code, 1960 (Act 29), and he was convicted on his plea and sentenced to two years’ imprisonment with hard labour. He has appealed against the sentence. When the hearing commenced, I invited the state attorney to consider whether a scout commissioner was a public officer but the learned state attorney, after consideration, observed that a scout commissioner could not be classified as a public officer and he therefore informed the court that he could not support the conviction although he suggested that the appellant could have been charged under section 5 of the Boy Scouts’ Association Ordinance, Cap. 265 (1951 Rev.), for falsely claiming to be connected with the Boy Scouts’ Association. The charge sheet stated that the appellant did falsely pretend to be a public officer, that is a scout commissioner sent by the Ghana Government to chec...