ATTO-MENSAH v. THE REPUBLIC

In this Ghanaian appellate judgment, ARCHER J addressed an appeal from the Cape Coast Circuit Court’s conviction of the appellant on two counts of defaming the National Liberation Council (NLC) under section 183A of the Criminal Code, with three-year sentences on each count. The appellant authored two tracts—Exhibits A and A1—handed to R. R. Mensah to type; only Mensah read them before the Special Branch intervened. Interpreting section 183A in light of the NLC Proclamation and decrees, the court held the provision protects the NLC as an institution, not individual members, and that publication to a single person suffices under section 115. On the merits, Exhibit A did not concern the NLC (conviction quashed), whereas Exhibit A1’s description of Ghana as a “crooked oligarchy” defamed the NLC (conviction affirmed). The charge sheet was not defective; police statements were voluntary; admission of certain irrelevant exhibits did not vitiate the trial. Considering limited publication and proportionality, the court reduced the sentence on count two to six months, effectively time served.