The former Speaker of Parliament, Professor Aaron Mike Oquaye, has expressed concerns over the bail conditions imposed on private legal practitioner Martin Kpebu following his arrest by the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP).

Oquaye expressed the view that bail conditions are being used as a tool to exert power, describing certain bail conditions as "onerous" and contrary to legal principles and human rights.

You had no business inviting Kpebu - Prof Mike Oquaye slams OSP

Speaking on the issue, he questioned some of the unusual conditions, particularly why a suspect would be required to justify their bail with landed property in their name.

Expressing his displeasure, he asked what would happen to individuals who do not own such property and are therefore unable to secure bail.

"…Bail being used to show people where power lies is not a yesterday matter. We have known this since legal practice decades ago. Bail being manipulated in this regard. There is no principle of law anywhere in any civilisedcivilised country whereby the bail that must be justified must have a landed property in the name of the person who is a suspect.

"Because does that mean that people who don't have landed property, therefore, can never get bail? What is this? Because these are matters of principle, issues of law, issues of human rights," he said in a TV3 interview on December 3, 2025.

Oquaye criticised the OSP for questioning Kpebu's media interview, claiming that it stifled his rights and infringed upon them.

"Now, because they can't really get the man on what he wanted, they say, 'Oh, why did you give an interview?' You want to suppress his freedom of speech? You cannot question his granting an interview," he added.

OSP speaks on Martin Kpebu's arrest, detention

"…What is this kind of onerous bail term that he should bring a landed property, and it must be in his own name. A Ghanaian doesn't have to have a landed property in order to defend or presume his human rights of the right to bail," he fumed.

MAG/SEA

Meanwhile, watch some videos from the NPP's 2025 Constitution Amendment