Mawuse Oliver Barker-Vormawor
Minister of National Security, Albert Kan-Dapaah, has sued the convener of #FixTheCountry Movement, Mawuse Oliver Barker-Vormawor, for his wild allegation that he was offered $1 million and appointments by officials of the ministry to stop activism.
The minister, who commenced the action at the Accra High Court yesterday, is demanding a GH¢10 million general damages for defamation.
Mr. Barker-Vormawor alleged he was offered a $1 million bribe by the minister and other government officials after he and others were released by the police from custody following their arrest on September 22, 2023 for staging a demonstration in Accra in breach of a restraining order from the court.
“They went as far as offering us $1 million; they offered us, as a committee, an appointment. Set up a committee and appoint us to government positions in order to stop this activism,” he told the media.
According to Barker-Vormawor, this offer was made directly to him and other leaders of #FixtheCountry Movement, claiming that their conversation with the Minister of National Security, the Minister of Finance and a Brigadier General at a safe home [house] was captured on tape.
Mr. Kan-Dapaah is requesting that the court declare that Barker-Vormawor’s words are defamatory, and make him apologise and retract the words in question.
He has also asked the court to place a “perpetual injunction restraining the Defendant from repeating similar or other defamatory words against the Plaintiff.”
The lawsuit comes after the Ministry of National Security issued a statement to refute the wild allegation made by the convener of #FixTheCountry Movement.
While the Ministers of National Security and Finance, as well as other relevant stakeholders, engaged the convenors of the #FixTheCountry Movement in 2021 to listen to their concerns, the ministry stated emphatically that no offer of money or appointment was made to persuade the group to end its “activism.”
“The allegations made by Oliver Barker-Vormawor are thus false, unfounded, and a calculated attempt to hoodwink Ghanaians,” the ministry said.
The ministry dared him to produce the alleged recording of the said inducement, while urging the public to ignore the allegations.
“This Ministry, therefore, challenges him to produce the alleged recording of the said inducement. Meanwhile, the general public is urged to ignore the allegations and treat them with the utmost contempt they deserve,” the statement concluded.
By Ernest Kofi Adu