ABABIO v. THE REPUBLIC

The case concerns Nana Owusu Yaw Ababio, Kaasehene and a member of the Kumasi Traditional Council, who was convicted in the Circuit Court, Kumasi, for failing to attend a council meeting to which he had been summoned on 22 August 1968. The charge cited paragraphs 5A(1) and 5A(2)(b) of the Chieftaincy (Amendment) Decree, 1966 (N.L.C.D. 112), as amended by N.L.C.D. 203, and he was fined Na250.00 or faced three months imprisonment in default. On appeal, Mensa Boison J considered whether any person in paragraph 5A(2)(b) captured all persons or only chiefs specified in the First Schedule of N.L.C.D. 112. Reading N.L.C.D. 112/203 as a coherent scheme designed to revert chiefs improperly elevated by the Nkrumah government to their prior allegiance and councils, the court held that paragraph 5A(2)(b) targets those scheduled chiefs, not persons generally. The court also rejected an argument that destoolment barred criminal proceedings, explaining that disciplinary sanctions are distinct and section 9 of the Criminal Code permits prosecution under multiple enactments while forbidding double punishment for the same offence. The no case submission should have been upheld; the conviction and sentence were quashed and an acquittal entered.