VIDEO: EOCO’s attempted arrest of Baffour Awuah was flawed beyond saving – Law Lecturer

Law lecturer Lenin Nicholas Anane Agyei has declared the attempt by Ghana's Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) to arrest Manhyia South MP Nana Agyei Baffour Awuah as legally flawed. During an appearance on JoyNews' Newsfile, Mr Agyei stated that the arrest lacked a sufficient legal basis. He argued that Section 19 of the Economic and Organised Crime Office Act, 2010 (Act 804) does not criminalize a person’s refusal to respond to an invitation from EOCO.

Section 19(1) allows the EOCO Executive Director to invite a person to assist with an investigation and compel the production of documents, but Section 19(5) only criminalizes failure to produce documents when required, not refusal to appear at an invitation. Mr Agyei rejected the idea that the lack of a specific sanction for refusing an invitation was an unintended gap in the law, stating that Parliament did not intend to criminalize refusal to appear, as it would have explicitly provided for consequences in the legislation.

Even if Mr Awuah had failed to respond or attend the EOCO invitation, it alone would not have provided a legal basis for his arrest, he argued. Mr Agyei also questioned the legality of the attempted arrest in the absence of a warrant, stating that the circumstances did not meet the requirements for a warrantless arrest. While warrantless arrests occur frequently in Ghana, he stressed that their occurrence does not, in itself, establish their legality.

His comments come after a confrontation between the MP and EOCO personnel at the Accra High Court on September 23.