THE REPUBLIC vs. THE DISTRICT COURT EX PARTE ADAM BAWA GUNTA AND OTHERS [2018]DLHC3451

Date	2018-11-14
Suit No.	SUIT NO. GJ/1303/2108
Citation No.	[2018]DLHC3451

ERIC K. BAFFOUR ESQ.JUSTICE OF THE HIGH COURT

[2018]DLHC3451
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													<main id="main" class="content" style="min-height: 60rem" >THE REPUBLIC<o:p></o:p>vs.<o:p></o:p>THE DISTRICT COURT EX PARTE ADAM BAWA
GUNTA AND OTHERS<o:p></o:p>[HIGH COURT
(GENERAL JURISDICTION DIVISION), ACCRA]<o:p></o:p><div style="mso-element:para-border-div;border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.5pt;
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SUIT NO.
GJ/1303/2108&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; &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;14TH
NOVEMBER, 2018<o:p></o:p>

</div>CORAM:<o:p></o:p>ERIC K. BAFFOUR, ESQ.JUSTICE OF THE HIGH COURT<o:p></o:p><div style="mso-element:para-border-div;border-top:solid windowtext 1.5pt;
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<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center;line-height:115%;
border:none;mso-border-top-alt:solid windowtext 1.5pt;mso-border-bottom-alt:
solid windowtext 1.5pt;padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:1.0pt 0in 1.0pt 0in">RULING<o:p></o:p>

</div>Applicants have invoked the supervisory jurisdiction
of the High Court coming under Order 55 of the High Court (Civil Procedure)
Procedure Rules, C.I 47 for orders for judicial review of the decision of the
District Magistrate dated the 9th of May, 2018. More specifically
the Applicants seeks the following reliefs from the court:<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:&quot;Book Antiqua&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;;
mso-fareast-font-family:&quot;Book Antiqua&quot;;mso-bidi-font-family:&quot;Book Antiqua&quot;;
mso-ansi-language:EN-US">i.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
A declaration that
the District Court exceeded its jurisdiction when it ordered Applicants to be
reminded in prison custody for safe keeping even though this court had already
granted me bail pending trial.<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:&quot;Book Antiqua&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;;
mso-fareast-font-family:&quot;Book Antiqua&quot;;mso-bidi-font-family:&quot;Book Antiqua&quot;;
mso-ansi-language:EN-US">ii.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
An order of
certiorari bringing up into this court for purposes of being quashed and
quashing the order of the District Court that I myself and three other
Applicants be remanded in prison custody for safe keeping.<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>The basis for the invocation of the supervisory
jurisdiction of the High Court by the Applicants have been set out in the various
affidavits of Adam Bawa Gunta, Mohammed Issah and Yakubu Ibrahim that
accompanied the application.&nbsp; To the
deponent to the first affidavit – Adam Bawa Gunta, he was arraigned with the
three other Applicants before the District Court on the offences of conspiracy
to commit murder and murder. They were also served with the bill of indictment
on the 19th of July, 2017 setting the stage for the commencement of
the committal proceedings of the Applicants which was completed on the 9th
of May, 2018. <o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>That before the commencement of the committal
proceedings, the Magistrate indicated to them that he had no jurisdiction to
admit them to bail which then compelled them to apply for bail before the High
Court which bail was granted them. To Applicants with the District Court
finding a prima facie case against them leading to their committal before the
High Court for trial, the Magistrate purported to have revoked the bail granted
them by the High Court by reminding them in prison custody. It is the claim of
the Applicants that the order reminding them in custody was an act in excess of
the jurisdiction of the District Magistrate as they were already on bail having
been so admitted to bail by the High Court. It is on the above facts that has
made them apply to the court for judicial review of the decision of the
District Court.<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>The Republic has opposed the application in an
affidavit in opposition deposed to by Lily Badungbana Atutiga, an Assistant
State Attorney at the office of the Attorney General. She concede that the
Applicants are facing five counts of conspiracy to commit murder and murder and
were committed to stand trial at the High Court by the District Court after
committal proceedings. And it was when the order for committal was made that the
Accra Central District Court Magistrate exercised his discretion by committing
them to prison. That the order committing them to prison was well within his
discretion as that power is granted by law. She further claim that the
invocation of judicial review is not the proper procedure to cure the exercise
of the discretion of a Magistrate and accordingly prays for the dismissal of
the application.<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>The
power of judicial review in the form of supervisory jurisdiction of the High
Court over all lower courts, administrative bodies and inferior bodies is
founded under article 141 of the Constitution, where the Constitution grants
power to the High Court over all lower courts and lower adjudicatory bodies in
the exercise of that jurisdiction to issue orders and directions including
orders in the nature of habeas corpus, certiorari, mandamus, prohibition and quo warranto for the purpose of
enforcing or securing the enforcement of its supervisory powers.<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>