VISITING FORCES ACT - 1962 (ACT 117)
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Subject to the other provisions of this Act, when a visiting force is present in Ghana or on board any ship or aircraft of Ghana, the service courts and service authorities of the sending state may exercise within Ghana, or on board any such ship or aircraft, in relation to members of that force, all such powers as are conferred upon them by the law of the sending state.
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(1) Except in respect of offences mentioned in subsection (2), the civil courts shall have the primary right to exercise jurisdiction in respect of any act or omission constituting an offence against any law in force in Ghana alleged to have been committed by a member of a visiting force.
(2) With respect to the alleged commission by a member of a visiting force of an offence relating to-
(a) the property or security of the sending state;
(b) the person or property of another member of the visiting force;
(c) the person or property of a dependent of another member of the visiting force; or
(d) an act done or anything omitted by the performance of official duty,
the service courts of the visiting force shall have the primary right to exercise jurisdiction:
Provided that where the offence of a member of a visiting force relates to paragraph (d), and has been committed against a civilian the Minister responsible for Defence shall decide whether a service or civil court shall have the primary right to exercise jurisdiction in the trial of such offence and the court selected by him shall have the primary right to exercise such jurisdiction.
.(3) This section shall have effect subject to any Agreement between the Republic of Ghana in respect of a visiting force and the sending state to which such force belongs.
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(1) Except in respect of offences mentioned in subsection (2), the civil courts shall have the primary right to exercise jurisdiction in respect of any act or omission constituting an offence against any law in force in Ghana alleged to have been committed by a member of a visiting force.
(2) With respect to the alleged commission by a member of a visiting force of an offence relating to-
(a) the property or security of the sending state;
(b) the person or property of another member of the visiting force;
(c) the person or property of a dependent of another member of the visiting force; or
(d) an act done or anything omitted by the performance of official duty,
the service courts of the visiting force shall have the primary right to exercise jurisdiction:
Provided that where the offence of a member of a visiting force relates to paragraph (d), and has been committed against a civilian the Minister responsible for Defence shall decide whether a service or civil court shall have the primary right to exercise jurisdiction in the trial of such offence and the court selected by him shall have the primary right to exercise such jurisdiction.
.(3) This section shall have effect subject to any Agreement between the Republic of Ghana in respect of a visiting force and the sending state to which such force belongs.
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(1) Where a member of a visiting force has been tried by a service court of that visiting force and has been convicted or acquitted, he shall not be tried again by a civil court for the same offence.
(2) Where a member of a visiting force has been tried by a civil court and has been convicted or acquitted, he shall not be tried again within Ghana for the same offence by a service court of that visiting force; but nothing in this subsection shall prevent that service court from trying within Ghana a member of the visiting force for any violation of rules of discipline arising from an act or omission that constituted an offence for which he was tried by the civil court.
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Where under section 2 a civil court or a service court of a visiting force has the primary right to exercise jurisdiction, the court having the primary right has the right to deal with charges against the alleged offender in the first instance, but that right may be waived.
Whether or not that right is to be waived and any other matter relating to the waiver of that right shall be determined in accordance with regulations made under this Act.
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(1) A person required to give evidence before a service court shall be summoned only by a District Magistrate.
(2) A District Magistrate shall summon, in the manner prescribed by the President or any other person authorised in that behalf by him, a witness to appear before a service court when requested so to do by-
(a) the authority by whom the service court was convened;
(b) the officer presiding at the service court; or
(c) an officer designated by the presiding officer referred to in the paragraph immediately preceding.
(3) A person summoned under subsection (2) may be required to bring with him and produce at a service court any documents in his possession or under his control relating to the matters in issue before the service court:
Provided that he shall not be required to bring with him and produce a document in respect of which he could have claimed privilege if the court to which he had been summoned was a civil court.
(4) A witness summoned or attending to give evidence before a service court shall be entitled to receive from the visiting force such fees and allowances for his expenses of attendance as he would have received if his evidence had been given in a civil court.
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(1) Every person who-
(a) on being duly summoned as a witness under section 5 and after payment or tender of the fees and expenses of his attendance, makes default in attending; or
(b) being in attendance as a witness before a service court, refuses to-
(i) take an oath or affirmation legally required of him,
(ii) produce any documents in his power or under his control legally required to be produced by him, or
(iii) answer any question that legally requires an answer;
(c) uses insulting or threatening language before a service court, or causes any interference or disturbance in its proceedings, or prints observations or uses words likely to influence improperly the members of or witnesses before that service court or to bring that service court into disrepute, or in any other manner whatsoever displays contempt of that service court; or
(d) being in attendance as counsel before a service court commits an act which if committed before a civil court would constitute a contempt of the civil court,
shall be guilty of an offence and the service court may, by a certificate setting forth the facts thereof, refer the offence of that person to a civil court that has power to punish witnesses and counsel guilty of like offences if committed in that civil court.
(2) A civil court to which an offence mentioned in this section has been referred shall cause to be brought before it the person certified to have committed that offence, and shall enquire into the facts set forth in the certificate mentioned in subsection (1), and, after examination of any witnesses who may be produced for or against the person so accused and after hearing any statement that may be offered in defence, shall, if it seems just, punish the person in like manner as if he had committed the offence in a proceeding in that civil court.
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The members of any service court exercising jurisdiction under this Act and witnesses appearing before that court shall enjoy the like immunities and privileges as are enjoyed by members of, and witnesses before, a court-martial exercising jurisdiction under the law for the time being in force relating to the Armed Forces of Ghana.
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A certificate of a service authority of a sending state, stating that anything alleged to have been done or omitted by a member of a visiting force of that state was or was not done in the performance of official duty shall be receivable in evidence in any civil court and shall be prima facie evidence of that fact.
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(1) For the purposes of a legal proceedings within Ghana, where a sentence has, whether within or without Ghana, been passed upon a member of a visiting force by a service court-
(a) the court shall be deemed to have been properly constituted;
(b) the proceedings of the court shall be deemed to have been regularly conducted; and
(c) the sentence shall be deemed to be within the jurisdiction of the court and in accordance with the law of the sending state and, if executed according to the tenor thereof, shall be deemed to have been lawfully executed.
(2) A member of a visiting force who is detained in custody-
(a) under a sentence mentioned in subsection (1) ; or
(b) pending the determination by a service court of a charge brought against him,
shall for the purposes of legal proceedings within Ghana be deemed to be in lawful custody.
(3) For the purposes of legal proceedings within Ghana, a certificate under the hand of the officer commanding a visiting force that a member of that force is being detained in either of the circumstances described in subsection (2) shall be conclusive evidence of the cause of his detention, but not of his being such a member, and a certificate under the hand of such an officer that the persons specified in the certificate sat as a service court of the sending state shall be conclusive evidence of that fact.
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For the purpose of enabling the service courts and service authorities of the sending state to exercise more effectively the powers conferred upon them by this Act, the President, if so requested by the sending state, may from time to time by general or special orders to a home force, direct the members thereof to arrest members of the visiting force alleged to have been guilty of offences against the law of the sending state and to hand over any person so arrested to the appropriate authorities of the visiting force.
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(1) A member of a visiting force, if sentenced by a service court of the sending state to imprisonment or detention may, under the authority of the President, given at the request of the sending state, be temporarily detained in custody in a detention barrack in Ghana.
(2) Where a member of a visiting force is in custody in a detention barrack in Ghana under subsection (1), the laws for the time being in force relating to the reception of prisoners from and their return to the service authorities of the home forces, their treatment while in custody in such detention barrack, and the circumstances in which they are to be released, shall, with the necessary modifications, apply in relation to the member of the visiting force in like manner as those laws apply to a member of a home force.
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(1) In so far as powers of command depend on rank, a member of a visiting force who-
(a) is acting with any part of a home force; or
(b) is a member of a body of a visiting force which is acting with any part of a home force,
shall have the same powers as a member of such home force of like rank.
(2) If the whole or any part of a home force is required to act with any other military, naval or air force, the President may place the home force, or such part thereof, under the command of the officer commanding a visiting force, if that officer is senior in rank to all the officers of the home force or such part thereof.
(3) Where any part of a home force is acting in co-operation with any other force, the commander of that part of the home force may, in agreement with the commander of that other force, define the powers of command and the order of precedence of the officers, warrant officers, non-commissioned officers, chief petty officers, petty officers and leading seamen of the home force in relation to an officer, warrant officer, non-commissioned officer, chief petty officer, petty officer or leading seaman of such other force who is of the same or equivalent rank.
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[Added by Act 233 s.3]
Regulations may be made by the Minister responsible for Defence by legislative instrument for-
(a) such matters as are required to be made by regulation under this Act;
(b) the modification, adaptation or amendment relating to inquests in operation in Ghana in so far as such enactment is to be applicable to a visiting force; and
(c) giving effect to any Agreement referred to in subsection (3) of section 2 and carry out the principles and provisions of this Act.
Section 15-Interpretation.
In this Act, unless the context otherwise refers-
"civil court" means a court in Ghana having jurisdiction in criminal matters;
"home force" means the Army, Navy or Air Force of Ghana or any part thereof;
"sending state" means the state to which a visiting force belongs;
"service authority" means any army, navy or air force authority;
"service court" means any army, navy or air force court and includes a service court of inquiry, and any officer of a visiting force who is empowered by the sending state to review the proceedings of a service court of the sending state or to investigate charges or himself to dispose of charges; and
"visiting force" means any or all of the following:-
(a) any body, contingent, detachment or member of the army, navy or air force of any state that, with the consent of the President, is lawfully present in Ghana or on board any ship or aircraft of Ghana;
(b) any civilian-
(i) accompanying such body, contingent or detachment;
(ii) in the employment of or performing any service for, such body, contingent or detachment, and
(iii) who is not a stateless person nor a citizen of, nor ordinarily resident in, Ghana; and
(c) any dependant of any such member or civilian accompanying him.
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