Legal practitioner and broadcast journalist, Samson Lardy Anyenini, has called on the Attorney General to appeal the reduced sentence handed to evangelist Patricia Asiedua, popularly known as Agradaa, warning that failure to do so would amount to an abdication of the state’s duty to protect the public.

Speaking on JoyNews’ NewsFile on Saturday, February 7, 2026, Anyenini criticised the Attorney General for what he described as a passive posture following the reduction of Agradaa’s sentence from 15 years to one year.

He argued that the Attorney General must take the matter to the Court of Appeal to have the sentence reversed.

“This is not where you sit back and say, ‘Oh, I did my case, got 15 years, and the court has reduced it to one year, so my job is done. No, the state, which has hired you to work, requires you to take this case up to the Court of Appeal and get this sentence reversed,” he stated.

Anyenini noted that the judge who reduced the sentence had nonetheless affirmed that Agradaa’s conviction was proper and that the circuit court judge had erred in no way.

He questioned the basis for the sentence reduction, pointing to the statutory thresholds set for misdemeanours and felonies.

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Anyenini explained that Agradaa was convicted on misdemeanour and second-degree felony, adding that even under the old legal regime, the maximum custodial sentence should not exceed 10 years.

“The thresholds were not set for nothing,” he stressed.

According to him, the state’s failure to appeal would send the wrong signal and weaken public confidence in the criminal justice system.

“If the state does not appeal this reduction, it signals an abdication of its duty to protect the public from such spiritual predators,” he indicated.

Anyenini further warned against what he described as selective justice, arguing that society cannot allow high-profile or so-called repentant offenders to receive leniency while poorer individuals face harsh punishment for minor crimes.

“I mean, the repentant, unquote, get a pass, while the poor rot in jail for stealing a goat. AG., it is time to act. Overturn this sledgehammer ruling and restore the teeth to our criminal justice system,” he said.

He urged the Attorney General to act swiftly to overturn the ruling and ‘restore the teeth’ of Ghana’s criminal justice system.

MRA/EB

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