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A Ghanaian lawyer and lecturer, Maurice Ampaw, has described the remand of Apostle Dr. Isaac Owusu-Bempah in police custody for a week as wickedness.
On September 13, 2021, an Accra Circuit Court adjudicated by Afia Owusuwaa Appiah, remanded the Glorious Word Power Ministries International (GWPMI) leader in police custody with some four members of his church—including a junior pastor.
Their arrest and subsequent remand were over some contentions that occurred between them and some police officers who were at the church to arrest the priest.
The disagreement between the two factions was instigated by alleged prevention of the police to enter the premises to effect the arrest, which the junior pastor was accused for.
Reverend Bempah, having been remanded in custody, applied for bail but was denied same.
Lawyer Ampaw, speaking to the denial of the bail application, recalled that the Chief Justice Kwesi Anin Yeboah had warned against remands, because according to “the Republic vs Kpebu” case, no matter the offence, the alleged perpetrator deserves bail.
He added: “Justice Dotse has publicly spoken against remand because the prisons are chocked and due to covid-19 the places needed to be decongested, hence the need to grant bail.”
The lawyer further argued that the GWPMI founder was not the offender in the case of the fracas between church members and the police to warrant his remand for investigation purposes.
“Nobody has been harmed, even the police are still alive and Owusu-Bempah was not the one who directly caused the injury. So with the kind of authority he possesses, his age, his influence on society are all before you the Judge and you remand him to be caged one week.”
Lawyer Ampaw therefore concluded that the Judge was not only wrong about the bail processes, but was inconsiderate and additionally in contravention with the directives of the Chief Justices.
“The judge was wicked; she didn’t show mercy. And she failed to apply the directive of the Chief Justice [Kwesi Anin Yeboah] and Justice Dotse to her case.” He said.
Meanwhile, Reverend Isaac Bempah has on Wednesday, 15 September 2021, been granted bail to a tune of GHC 200,000 with two sureties by a High Court in Accra.
