VISITING FORCES ACT, 1962 (ACT
117)
ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS
Section
1. Exercise of powers by service
courts and authorities.
2. Primary right of civil courts
to exercise jurisdiction, etc.
3. Restriction of jurisdiction of
civil courts and service courts.
4. Waiver of primary right to
exercise jurisdiction.
5. Summoning of witnesses.
6. Offences liable to be committed
by witnesses, etc.
7. Privileges of members of
service courts, etc.
8. Effect of certificate of
service authority.
9. Due constitution of service
courts, etc.
10. Assistance by home force to
service courts and authorities.
11. Detention of sentenced members
of visiting forces.
12. Certain provisions of Criminal
Code not to apply to visiting
forces.
13. Rank of members of visiting
forces, etc.
14. Regulations.
15. Interpretation.
THE HUNDRED AND SEVENTEENTH
ACT OF THE PARLIAMENT OF THE
REPUBLIC OF GHANA
ENTITLED
THE VISITING FORCES ACT, 1962
AN ACT to enable service courts
and authorities, of sending states
to which visiting forces belong,
to exercise jurisdiction and other
powers over members of such
forces, to provide for certain
matters relating to the
administration of such forces and
to make provision for matters
connected therewith.
DATE OF ASSENT: 12th June, 1962.
BE IT ENACTED by the President and
the National Assembly in this
present Parliament assembled as
follows:—
Section 1—Exercise of Powers by
Service Courts and Authorities.
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.
Section 2—Primary Right of Civil
Courts to Exercise Jurisdiction,
Etc.
(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.
[Added by Act 233 s.1]
Section 3—Restriction of
Jurisdiction of Civil Courts and
Service Courts.
(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.
Section 4—Waiver of Primary Right
to Exercise Jurisdiction.
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.
[Added by Act 233 s.2]
Section 5—Summoning of Witnesses.
(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.
Section 6—Offences Liable to be
Committed by Witnesses, Etc.
(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.
Section 7—Privileges of Members of
Service Courts, Etc.
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.
Section 8—Effect of Certificate of
Service Authority.
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.
Section 9—Due Constitution of
Service Courts, Etc.
(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.
Section 10—Assistance by Home
Force to Service Courts and
Authorities.
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.
Section 11—Detention of Sentenced
Members of Visiting Forces.
(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.
Section 12—Certain Provisions of
Criminal Code not to Apply to
Visiting Forces.
The provisions of the Criminal
Code (Act 29) relating to military
training and exercises and to the
carrying of offensive weapons
shall not apply to a member of a
visiting force acting in the
course of his official duty.
Section 13—Rank of Members of
Visiting Forces, Etc.
(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.
Section 14—Regulations.
[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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