The Inspector General of Police, Dr. George Akuffo Dampare has taken exception to comment made by British High Commissioner, Harriet Thompson, following the recent arrest of convener of the #FixTheCountry Movement, Oliver Barker-Vormawor over motor traffic offence on his way to court.
He described the comments by the Ambassador as biased and uninformed seeking to protect her selfish interest.
Following the arrest, British High Commissioner, said she looks forward to see how the arrest of the convener of the #FixTheCountry Movement will turn out.
In a tweet on Tuesday May 17, she said, “Oliver Barker Vormawor, convener of #FixTheCountry movement, arrested again, I understand for a motoring offence on his way to court. I’ll be interested to see where this goes…”.
The lead convener of the #FixTheCountry Movement, Oliver Barker-Vormawor, was taken to the East Legon Police cells after he was arraigned before the Madina District Court.
Responding to the tweet, the IGP considered the tweet by the Ambassador as violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations 1961 which enjoined Diplomatic Missions not to interfere in the internal affairs of their host country.
“Your Excellency, the fact that you used the phrase arrested again, we believe you must be making reference to the previous occasions Mr. Barker-Vormawor was arrested for threatening the security of the State and recently for motor traffic offences. We intends to address both issues in this letter.
“Since you may be unaware of the charges against the person of interest in your tweet, we are happy to give you some background. Among other things, in February this year, Mr. Barker-Vormawor threatened the security of the State by categorically stating his intention to stage a coup d’etat and cause instability in the country if the Army, which he referred to as useless was unable to do so. This same threat has been repeated by Mr. Barker-Vormawor on his social media handles.”
As a result, the Dr. Dampare mentioned that Barker-Vormawor was arrested and taken through due process, according to the laws of the land and was granted bail by a court of competent jurisdiction as the matter is still pending before the law court.
He questioned the interest of the British High Commissioner as to why she appeared to focus on the suspect in the case forgetting the law enforcement process in the country.
“”In another occasion, he was arrested together with other drivers separately over motor traffic offences and put before a court where some drivers pleaded guilty and were convicted and paid their fines accordingly.
“However, this person pleaded not guilty and was granted bail by the Court and was released after fulfilling the bail conditions.
“Against this background and in view of the fact that he is not tye only person taken through due process for committing an offence in this country. It will be difficult to understand why he is your only focus. Are we to understand whether you are concerned about the law enforcement process in Ghana or only as applied to person of your interest?”
The Inspector General of Police reminded the envoy how some faith-based organisations were arrested, prosecuted and branded as terrorists in UK and some cases extradited when they made some pronouncements considered as national security threat.
As if that is not enough, Dr. Dampare gave the British Envoy some 15 questions to answer to determine as to whether Ghana also deserve peace and tranquility in it country like the Britain.
The police chief constable did not only concluded with that than to ask the High Commissioner Harriot Thompson to learn to keep within her limit of what concern her by quoting in local parlance “Di Wo Fie Asem.”
Read full copy of the statement below:
By Vincent Kubi