EDUSEI J.
The Axim Local Council by their clerk of council instituted criminal proceedings against the respondent, P. K. Tandoh, for refusing to give information to the Axim Local Council as a rating authority.
When the case came on for hearing before the district court grade II, Axim, the prosecutor did not appear and on representation by the respondent's counsel the case was struck out and the respondent was discharged. The court awarded N¢40.00 costs to the respondent against the Axim Local council. Against this order for costs the council has appealed to this court. The learned state attorney argued that the clerk of council was acting in his official capacity and therefore was a public prosecutor. In the circumstances it was wrong in law for the district magistrate to have awarded costs to the accused-respondent. The learned state attorney relied on section 139 (3) of the Criminal Procedure Code, 1960 (Act 30), and submitted that the Axim Local Council was not a private prosecutor…