Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo
The Criminal Investigations Department (CID) has eventually charged three National Democratic Congress (NDC) gurus over the contents of the infamous leaked audio recording.
It is the first action by the law enforcement agency that points at their seriousness to deal with the subject about which there has been so much public conversation.
The National Chairman of the NDC, Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo, together with the two of the party’s topmost communication officers – Sammy Gyamfi and Kwaku Boahen – has been charged.
Their charges followed their earlier invitation by the police which some skeptics felt was going to be aborted midway with no charges preferred against the suspects whose remarks, when they were hosted by the National Chairman, contained very dangerous disclosures about the party’s bloody strategies for the 2020 elections.
The aspect which dealt with plans to engage in the kidnapping of persons not in the good books of the party as well as physical and verbal attacks on political opponents, particularly incensed and scared most Ghanaians who wondered why the NDC would want to tread on such a path just to recapture power from the ruling NPP.
The CID has charged the three with “conspiracy to commit a crime with kidnapping intent, and conspiracy to commit a crime with a threat to harm.”
DSP Juliana Obeng, Public Relations Officer at the CID Headquarters, who announced the foregone, added that “by this development, the ritual of reporting to the CID on stated days ceases.”
Having been formally charged, the police will prepare the case for the next level which is the court.
The subject is coming at a time when political vigilantism debate has attracted an unprecedented public conversation – the mode of stemming it taking on a partisan touch.
With vigilantes having a role to play in the proposed deadly strategies of the NDC, the charges and the possible appearance of the three in court, Ghanaians are now witnessing verifiable moves to eliminate the canker from the country’s body-politic.
During the ill-fated recording, the National Chairman boasted about the dexterity of their party in ‘covert’ and ‘overt’ operations – an approach he said would be applied in the next general election.
Following the revelation of the recording and the dawning of its national security implications, the police invited at first the National Chairman, who obliged at his own time leaving many Ghanaians to wonder whether he would even report at all.
The others were invited subsequently. The chairman reported with the usual solidarity show by party supporters.
The sponsors of Azorka Boys, Sofo Azorka, reportedly asked his boys to proceed to Accra to take over the approach leading to the Police Headquarters. It was not known, however, how he intended to dare the police which would have been in consonance with the NDC’s project of creating a melee.
When they first appeared at the CID headquarters, the NDC Chairman was granted a GH¢400,000 bail over the leaked tape while Kwaku Boahen was granted GH¢200,000 bail with a surety.
It was however unclear what charges the police preferred against Sammy Gyamfi.
By A.R. Gomda