ANING V. THE REPUBLIC

Amua-Sekyi J.

This is an appeal from the decision of a General Court-Martial convicting the appellant, Major Emmanuel Aning, and one other, of the offences of conspiring to steal and stealing. The offences were alleged to have been committed on or about 9 March 1981 in the Lebanon, where the appellant was serving with the Ghana contingent to the United Nations peace-keeping force. He was officer commanding B company.

The case for the prosecution was that the appellant and Major Oduro-Gyamina, the second accused, conspired to steal and did steal a quantity of roofing sheets supplied to the Ghana contingent by the United Nations force headquarters at Nakura. To prove the charge, reliance was placed on the manner in which the sheets were procured. Evidence was led to show that in accordance with the service operational procedure the second accused, who was the operations officer, was required to make requisitions through Major Ayisi, the logistics officer, who would, in turn, instruct Capt…