Frank Davies, lawyer for Ofoase Ayirebi Member of Parliament (MP) Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, has argued that allowing High Court trials to continue during legal vacation could infringe on the rights of accused persons.

He expounded that some accused persons may be forced to proceed without their lawyers, potentially compromising their right to a fair trial.

Speaking to the media, Frank Davies said the constitutional rights of accused persons to a fair trial are being violated by the exercise of Chief Justice (CJ) Paul Baffoe-Bonnie's "administrative discretion" to have their trials conducted during the legal vacation.

"The constitutional rights of the accused persons to a fair trial is being violated by the exercise of the administrative discretion of the Chief Justice. That their trials be conducted in the legal vacation. That is our challenge. We are not saying they should not be tried. What we are saying is that the continued trial of the cases in the legal vacation offends their rights to fair representation by lawyers of their own choosing," he said.

Davies further explained that lawyers had informed the justices they were unable to attend court because of a long-standing practice of not conducting trials during the vacation.

"This is the case where the lawyers have prompted the justices that they are unable to attend court because in the vacation we have a long standing practice and tradition that we don't conduct trials. The trials are conducted when both lawyers have agreed and indicated the position to the judges and the judge will take a warrant from the chief justice and continue the trial," he said.

He explained that the plaint of MP Kojo Oppong Nkrumah "relates to a continued violation of constitutional provisions — the sovereign will of the people”.

"We are not here at the Supreme Court just for purposes of grand standing," he added.

The Supreme Court is expected to rule on the application on Friday, August 21.