VIDEO: Using denial of bail as form of punishment for accused persons not law - Haruna Iddrisu
The Minister of Education and Member of Parliament for Tamale South, Haruna Iddrisu has said that using denial of bail as a form of punishment for accused persons was not the law.
"We must uphold the principle of fair trial for every accused person as a country," he said while speaking at a funeral of Mahama Shaibu, a lecturer at the University of Development Studies (UDS) in Tamale on Thursday (May 28, 2026).
Mahama Shaibu, a former broadcast journalist with the Multimedia Group Limited (MGL), who reported from the Northern Region for Accra based Joy FM for many years, and later went to lecture at UDS after further studies abroad was a member of the board of the National Communications Authority (NCA) and a personal friend of Mr Haruna Iddrisu.
He died a day before this year's Eid-ul-Adha, shortly after having reportedly complained of chest pains while driving. He is said to have gone to purchase a ram for the Eid and was on his way home at the time of the incident.
At the gathering of an Islamic prayers as part of the funeral on Thursday, his personal friend, Mr Haruna Iddrisu, who is a former leader of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) caucus in Parliament [Minority Leader] said: "In Ghana today, we have seen excesses, excesses from the police, excesses from the court, excesses from EOCO [Economic and Organised Crimes Office], denying persons bail and using bail as punishment for accused persons, that is not law".
He said it is triad knowledge and triad law, that "don't deny an accused person bail or ask an accused person to pay excessively as a punishment to the accused person, if you uphold the right to a fair trial and uphold the rights to innocence at trial, that every person is presumed innocent."
"So I expect that in Ghana today, we must end the high handedness and excessiveness in matters relating to bail and its denial and its charges," he said.
VIDEO: Using denial of bail as form of punishment for accused persons not law - Haruna Iddrisu https://t.co/v3mLQHYN3y pic.twitter.com/UFT2CuZvkX
— DailyGraphic GraphicOnline (@Graphicgh) May 29, 2026
Writer's email:
Follow @enochfrimpong Follow @Graphicgh
