{"id":120745,"date":"2026-05-26T13:15:22","date_gmt":"2026-05-26T13:15:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=120745"},"modified":"2026-05-26T13:15:22","modified_gmt":"2026-05-26T13:15:22","slug":"ndc-defends-abronye-arrest-as-lawyers-question-bail-denial-9","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=120745","title":{"rendered":"NDC Defends Abronye Arrest as Lawyers Question Bail Denial"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n \t<\/i> Read Time:<\/span>2 Minute, 38 Second <\/div>\n\n <\/div>

NewsGhana, Latest Updates and Breaking News of Ghana, News Ghana, https:\/\/www.newsghana.com.gh\/ndc-defends-abronye-arrest-as-lawyers-question-bail-denial\/An NDC communications member has argued the detention of Abronye DC was legally justified, as a lawyer separately questioned the court\u2019s bail decision on constitutional grounds.
\nThe debate played out on Asaase Radio\u2019s The Forum on Saturday, May 23, drawing out competing legal and political assessments of the ongoing case against Kwame Baffoe, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Bono Regional Chairman widely known as Abronye DC. Baffoe has since been granted bail set at 100,000 cedis by a circuit court judge following his arrest and detention, while the NPP has separately petitioned the Chief Justice over the conduct of the judge handling the case.
\nIbrahim Halidu, a member of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) communications team and a private legal practitioner, argued that public discourse in Ghana had increasingly crossed legal boundaries, and that political leaders in particular had a duty to exercise restraint. He said freedom of expression does not extend to conduct that breaches the law, including threats, defamation and hate speech.
\n\u201cWhen you look at what Abronye said it crossed legal and constitutional boundaries,\u201d Halidu said.
\nHe argued that the regional chairman\u2019s public communications had repeatedly gone too far and that individuals who engage in threats, insults or hate speech should face the consequences the law provides.
\nThe same programme heard a different perspective on the bail question from lawyer Kwesi Mensah Fokuor-Benyin, who argued that the decision to deny Abronye bail was difficult to justify on the merits. He said the charges Baffoe faces are misdemeanors that would typically result in a caution or a fine rather than imprisonment if a conviction is secured, and that remanding a suspect into custody requires clear justification where jail time is not the likely outcome.
\nMensah Fokuor-Benyin also challenged the court\u2019s reliance on Section 96(5)(c) of Ghana\u2019s Criminal and Other Offences (Procedure) Act, which the judge reportedly applied when refusing bail. He argued that the provision is ordinarily used in relation to repeat offenders with prior convictions, and questioned whether Baffoe had any such record that would make the provision applicable to his case.
\nHe further argued that denying bail on the basis that an accused might reoffend, without prior convictions and before the prosecution has even opened its case, raised serious questions about the constitutional presumption of innocence. He said the court had no evidential basis at the bail stage to assess aggravating or mitigating factors, and that Baffoe\u2019s family ties and political responsibilities should ordinarily weigh in his favour as factors reducing any risk of flight.
\nAbronye DC was arraigned before Circuit Court 9 in Accra on May 13, 2026, on charges of offensive conduct conducive to breach of the peace and publication of false news. His case arose from a social media video in which he criticised a judge at the Adenta Circuit Court.
\n NewsGhana, Latest Updates and Breaking News of Ghana, News Ghana, https:\/\/www.newsghana.com.gh\/ndc-defends-abronye-arrest-as-lawyers-question-bail-denial\/<\/p>\n

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NewsGhana, Latest Updates and Breaking News of Ghana, News Ghana, https:\/\/www.newsghana.com.gh\/ndc-defends-abronye-arrest-as-lawyers-question-bail-denial\/An NDC communications member has argued the detention of Abronye DC was legally justified, as a lawyer separately questioned the court\u2019s bail decision on constitutional grounds. The debate played out on Asaase Radio\u2019s The Forum on Saturday, May 23, drawing out competing legal and political assessments of the ongoing case against Kwame Baffoe, the New [\u2026] NewsGhana, Latest Updates and Breaking News of Ghana, News Ghana, https:\/\/www.newsghana.com.gh\/ndc-defends-abronye-arrest-as-lawyers-question-bail-denial\/<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"registered_only","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"link","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[131,1846,18186,8525,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-120745","post","type-post","status-publish","format-link","hentry","category-abronye-dc","category-bail","category-ghana-law","category-kwame-baffoe","category-politics","post_format-post-format-link"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120745","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=120745"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120745\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=120745"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=120745"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=120745"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}