Accra High Court remands Abronye into police custody over passport bail breach

The Accra High Court has ordered that NPP Bono Regional Chairman Kwame Baffoe, aka Abronye, be remanded into police custody after he failed to meet his bail condition of depositing his travel documents.

Lawyers of Abronye on Thursday prayed for his bail conditions — which required him to deposit his passport — to be varied, citing the need for their client to travel to the UK for educational purposes.

Abronye is facing charges of offensive conduct conducive to the breach of peace and publication of false news over alleged derogatory remarks against a circuit court judge.

The NPP Bono Regional Chairman did not show up in court when the case was called on June 4.

His lawyers, led by Daniel Martey Addo, while moving the application for the variation of bail conditions, indicated that Abronye's passport was with the UK High Commission as part of processes for his travel due on June 14. He noted that his client had gained admission to a school in the UK and had submitted the travel documents on May 2, prior to his grant of bail.

But Joshua Sackey, a Principal State Attorney, opposed the prayer for bail variation. He argued that Abronye had failed to submit his passport and other travel documents as part of his bail conditions.

He argued that despite having his passport when he was granted bail, he failed to surrender the documents as ordered by the court.

He noted that from the document displaying the UK High Commission's receipt of the passport, it appeared Abronye had submitted the travel document on May 25  four clear days after he was granted bail on May 21.

After hearing the submissions from both counsel, presiding judge Halima El-Alawa Abdul-Basit indicated that Abronye's refusal to deposit his passport was a flagrant disrespect of the court's orders, an act she would not condone.

Accordingly, she dismissed the application for the bail variation and ordered that the NPP Bono Regional Chairman be remanded into police custody until he surrenders his passport.