MENSAH AND OTHERS vs. THE REPUBLIC [1978]DLHC1154

Date	1978-07-07
Suit No.
Citation No.	[1978]DLHC1154

CECILIA KORANTENG-ADDOW J.

B. J. DA ROCHA FOR THE FIRST APPELLANT.

NANA AKUFO-ADDO FOR THE SECOND APPELLANT.

E. A. OSEW FOR THE THIRD APPELLANT.

K. GYEKE-DAKO DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS FOR THE REPUBLIC

[1978]DLHC1154
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													<main id="main" class="content" style="min-height: 60rem" >MENSAH AND OTHERS<o:p></o:p>&nbsp;vs. <o:p></o:p>THE REPUBLIC<o:p></o:p>[HIGH COURT, ACCRA]<o:p></o:p>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; [1979]
GLR 523<o:p></o:p><div style="mso-element:para-border-div;border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.5pt;
padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in">

DATE:
7 JULY 1978<o:p></o:p>

</div>COUNSEL:&nbsp;&nbsp; <o:p></o:p><div style="mso-element:para-border-div;border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.5pt;
padding:0in 0in 0in 0in">

B. J. DA ROCHA FOR THE FIRST APPELLANT.<o:p></o:p>

NANA AKUFO-ADDO FOR THE SECOND APPELLANT.<o:p></o:p>

E. A. OSEW FOR THE THIRD APPELLANT.<o:p></o:p>

K. GYEKE-DAKO, DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS,
FOR THE REPUBLIC.<o:p></o:p>

</div>CORAM:
<o:p></o:p><div style="mso-element:para-border-div;border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.5pt;
padding:0in 0in 0in 0in">

CECILIA KORANTENG-ADDOW J.<o:p></o:p>

</div><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>JUDGMENT OF CECILIA KORANTENG-ADDOW<o:p></o:p>At the
Circuit Court, Accra, which has since its creation been generally designated as
the “special court,” the first appellant was convicted of sedition contrary to
section 183 (3) of the Criminal Code, 1960 (Act 29). The other two appellants
were convicted of aiding and abetting the commission of the sedition, contrary
to sections 20 (1) and 181 (3) of the Criminal Code, 1960. The first appellant
was sentenced to a term of eight years’ imprisonment with hard labour, the
second appellant to a term of six years’ imprisonment with hard labour, and the
third appellant, five years’ imprisonment with hard labour. On these
convictions the appellants have appealed to this court: the first appellant on
nine additional grounds, in addition to the omnibus grounds contained in the
petition; the second appellant on eight additional grounds and the third
appellant on seven additional grounds.<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>The
particulars of the offence against the first appellant as contained in the
charge sheet are:<o:p></o:p>“Joseph
Henry Mensah: during the month of August 1975, at Accra, in the Greater Accra
Circuit, published seditious words or writing in the following terms:
‘Hello-fellow Ghanaians, when the National Redemption Council took up the reins
of government, all of us jubilated and gave them our whole-hearted support.
They promised of providing Ghanaians all the things that make life worth living
including normalisation of prices to the bare minimum. We never doubted their
ability of fulfilling these promises because of Col. Acheampong’s declaration
that he had put the economy on war footing. But today all our hopes and
expectations have been dished out in the bud. What do we see? Inflation of the
highest order as a result of which prices on every commodity has gone up ten
times than what was obtained before. Moreover, there is shortage of everything
in the country, including foodstuffs. We cannot get sufficient [quantities] of
corn for our meals, neither do we get fish and meat to eat. Col. Felli was
proud to announce that he had exported ¢330,000 worth of corn to other
countries. This is serious. Since the National Redemption Council came to power
over three and a half years ago, the performance of the economy reveals that
there has been no growth. This stems out of the fact that Col. Acheampong who
is responsible for finance has continued to raise prices often and often during
the years. Prices since as from January to June this year were so fantastic
that there was acute expectation of increases in the budget announced recently.<o:p></o:p>Ah! No!
This year’s budget we cannot bear. It has gone harshly against every section of
life in the country. Col. Acheampong, Commissioner for Finance, has always read
the budget, but this year’s budget passed through others to be released to the
Press—because it is a very bad budget. The National Redemption Council failed
and failed miserably, and to find a scape-goat attributes high prices to oil
crisis and inflationary trends in the world. If so why burden us with
exorbitant increase in taxes and excise duties? Increase in import duty amounts
to devaluation. The National Redemption Council gave workers 27% increases in
salaries and raised prices more than 500%. This is real redemption. The market
women are suffering imprisonment without the option of a fine. The lorry owners
and drivers are no exception. The businessmen are facing the full measure of
the hardship. The new rate of assessment for doctors, lawyers, dentists,
accountants, engineers, architects, proprietors of schools and quantity
surveyors in private practice would lead to more burden for themselves and the
consumers of the services these factors render. By and large, they attribute
the cause of high prices to world-wide inflation. But inflation has been solved
in most European and some African countries. Why not in Ghana? If Acheampong
will show all due respect for the traditional way of doing things in this
country and get all talents involved in the administration inflation can be
solved. Ghana has men of integrity among the civilians and better qualified men
even in the Army to contain the situation. Acheampong has failed this country,
his blatant, despotism; his outrageous racist statements; his erratic
self-glorification behaviour coupled with his failure t</main>