Lawyer Martin Kpebu believes the Minority in Parliament has grounds to raise concerns over the search conducted by the National Security at the residence of Dr. Ernest Addison, the former Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BoG).
The lawyer says although a warrant was obtained at the court to carry out the assignment, it is supposed to detail the specific operation to ensure they don’t go outside what they are mandated.
The private legal practitioner, speaking on Ghana Tonight on TV3 Thursday, March 20, 2025, indicated that: “The NPP has a point in raising issues about how the warrant was executed because as we speak now, we don’t know what the warrant gave authorisation for.”
He explained that “in giving a warrant, to say you want to go and search, you’ll tell the court what you’re searching for from the person and then the court will give the authorisation so that you don’t go outside of what you were given authorisation for.”
Kpebu’s comments follow reports that some armed security operatives numbering about 20 invaded Dr. Addison’s Roman Ridge residence on Wednesday, March 19, 2025, at dawn.
Dr Addison was at home when the heavily armed men, some in balaclavas, wielding AK-47 semi-automatic rifles, showed up to conduct a search.
The team from National Security immediately disabled the CCTV system at the property.
The team demanded that the former Governor leads them to the “vaults” in his house which he denied of having any or a cache of cash at home, according to Accra-based Asaase Radio report.
But the personnel were not convinced by the answers, according to reports, and went ahead to ransack the house according to eyewitnesses.
However, following the non-retrieval of any large sums of money and vaults, they took with them the CCTV monitor and control unit at the house.
Mr. Kpebu in his analysis cited the Security and Intelligence Agencies Act (ACT 1030), which he says gives the court the authority to demand what the person has done and what actually is going to be carried out at the place to ensure there are no breaches.
He said the young nature of Ghana’s jurisprudence could also be a factor compared to other advanced democracies where details of such operations are provided to ensure the authorities work within the scope of their permit.
“Ghana we haven’t developed our jurisprudence too well but in America, etc, they even show that so that if you go outside the warrant and seek to take things outside it, with that breach, you’re in trouble. It could spoil the whole case.
“Ours is a young democracy so with this case and then the commentaries that will come, I expect that National Security will improve,” he was optimistic.
Deputy A-G Srem Sai says Addison’s home was raided according to law
