[1981]DLSC12164 • March 22, 1981 • Supreme Court •
KWAKYE vs. ATTORNEY-GENERAL
The plaintiff, Kwakye, challenged a purported 25-year prison sentence allegedly imposed on him by a special court established under the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council Special Courts Decree, 1979 (A.F.R.C.D. 3). The plaintiff contended he was never tried, convicted, or sentenced by such a court and that the published sentence infringed his fundamental human rights under Chapter 6 of the 1979 Constitution. The plaintiff sought a declaration that the sentence was void and of no effect.
read moreAPALOO C.J. He delivered the ruling of the court. On 5 December 1979, the plaintiff issued out of this court, a writ in which he seeks to invoke this court’s original jurisdiction. The relief indorsed in the writ was: “A declaration that the plaintiff was never tried, convicted or sentenced by any special court established under the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (Special Courts) Decree, 1979 (A.F.R.C.D. 3), and the purported sentence of 25 years’ imprisonment imposed upon the plaintiff as published in the national press on 13 October 1979, is an infringement of the plaintiff’s fundamental human rights inconsistent with chapter 6 of the Constitution of the Republic of Ghana, 1979, void and of no effect.” In accordance with rule 46 of the Supreme Court Rules, 1970 (C.I. 13), he filed a statement of his case. It is not necessary in this ruling to reproduce that statement in full. But the paragraph that appears material and on which a great deal of the argument addressed...