Why Oliver Barker-Vormawor spent another night behind bars after bail

Oliver Barker-Vormawor, a convener of the #FixTheCountry movement, spent another night in police custody despite being granted bail earlier on Wednesday, March 16, 2022.

This was due to some challenges regarding his bail conditions. The Tema High Court granted Barker-Vormawor bail to the sum of GHC2 million with two sureties.

The court also ordered that one of the sureties is to deposit a document covering landed property within the court’s registry.

But in a statement on Wednesday evening, the Police said the Court’s Registrar was prevented by the sureties to submit the document for verification at the Lands Commission.

“Pursuant to the orders of the court, the Police took the accused person to the Court execute the bail. At the court, the Registrar informed the police that he had submitted the document presented by the sureties to the Lands Commission for verification and he was, therefore, unable to proceed with the execution of the bail until a response was received from the Lands Commission,” the statement from the police explained.

It added, “consequently, the accused person was taken back into custody to await the completion to the bail processes by the High Court Registrar.”

The police then accused the court that Oliver Barker-Vormawor’s freedom now depends on them and that he [Barker-Vormawor] will be released when the court is satisfied with the bail conditions.

“We wish to point out that the accused person was granted bail and, therefore, the execution of the bail is dependent on the court and not the police.

“The accused person will, therefore, be released when the court is satisfied that the bail conditions have been duly met,” the statement stressed.

“We, therefore, urge individuals who are unfamiliar with these legal processes to take note and be circumspect with their comments on these matters,” the statement concluded.

Barker-Vormawor’s bail application

Oliver Mawuse Barker-Vormawor in his application for bail said of treason felony against him cannot be sustained by the evidence available.

This is notwithstanding that the Attorney-General in an affidavit in opposition to the bail, insisted that evidence uncovered so far corroborates a charge of treason felony against the activist.

Barker-Vormawor has, however, wondered why the Republic has not charged him or taken a statement from him on the charge.

He told the Court presided over by Justice Daniel Mensah that he is in good health and hopes they take him to trial when he [Justice Daniel Mensah] asked about his health status after he had been taken to the Police Hospital for medical care.