The Accra High Court has given the prosecution until September 24 to respond to a bail application filed on behalf of Salomey Baffoe, who is accused of abetting the publication of false information by social media personality Ghana Jollof.
The court granted the adjournment after Assistant State Attorney Carl Afedzi Forson told the court that the Attorney-General’s Office had not yet assigned the application to a lawyer.
Mr Forson said he was not the substantive attorney handling the case and had been informed that the State was served with the bail application on Friday.
He attributed the delay to Monday’s public holiday and asked the court for a short adjournment to allow the prosecution to prepare its response.
Counsel for Baffoe, Nana Agyei Baffour Awuah, opposed the request, arguing that the application concerned his client’s liberty and should therefore be dealt with urgently.
He maintained that the State had been served with the application and had not indicated that it had been short-served.
According to counsel, applications involving the liberty of an accused person could be heard even over weekends, and the period for the prosecution to respond should not be extended simply because the matter was being treated as a civil proceeding.
He further argued that the prosecution had already had sufficient time to respond and cautioned that a prolonged delay could undermine the purpose of the bail application.
Counsel said Baffoe would have spent two weeks in custody by the time the prosecution filed and served its response.
The court, while granting the adjournment, noted that Baffoe’s liberty was at stake and stressed that the State could not take the matter for granted.
The court directed the Republic to file any processes it intends to rely on and serve them by 9:00 a.m. before the case resumes on September 24.
