The Minority in Parliament say they are disappointed by the Ghana Police Service's response to the British High Commissioner over the arrest of FixTheCountry convener, Oliver Barker-Vormawor.
Speaking to the press on Tuesday, Minority leader Haruna Iddrisu stated that the response has sparked their concern about the “consistent” undermining of freedom of speech in the country guaranteed under the 1992 Constitution.
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“Freedom of expression remains the most fundamental building block of a democracy and if a diplomat can be questioned simply for saying that ‘how will this one too go'. You see, Ghana must operate under rule of law not rule of Nana Addo Dankwa, he is not rule of law, he is not. But he must exemplify and live by it as President of the republic,” he said.
“There is a difference between a Facebook post and a real and actual threat to the stability of our country,” the Minority Leader added.
This comes after the Ghana Police Service asked the British High Commissioner to Ghana, Harriet Thompson, to mind her own business.
This was in reaction to a tweet by Commissioner, Harriet Thompson, in relation to the arrest of Oliver Barker-Vormawor, convener of the FixTheCountry Movement.
The British High Commissioner on May 17, tweeted, “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.”
In a four-page letter signed by the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Dr George Akuffo Dampare, the IGP, noted that Ms Thompson's act was unprofessional and seeks to undermine the credence of the Ghana Police Service.
Reacting to this, the IGP said the “tweet is a violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, 1961 which enjoins diplomatic missions not to interfere in the internal affairs of their host country.”
He stressed that all their engagements with the #FixTheCountry activist have been in accordance with the supreme laws of the country, thus, the Commissioner's comment was “obviously made from either a biased or uninformed position.”
However, Mr. Iddrisu believes that the Commissioner's tweet on Oliver Barker-Vormawor's arrest was not a threat to the stability of Ghana.
Meanwhile, he says the Ministry is contemplating supporting a private members bill that will see to the establishment of an independent Police commission.
This is “so that we can call the Police to order. They cannot be doing an investigation of themselves when they are capable of the same wrongdoing. So we will support a bill which should look at the establishment of an independent Police commission.”
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