Ningro Prampram Member of Parliament (MP), has queried why the Police Criminal Investigations Department (CID), has not invited the Deputy General Secretary of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Lawyer Obiri Boahen, over his comment that anyone who is opposed to the compilation of the register, will be beaten.
Samuel Nartey George, who was part of some Members of Parliament (MP) of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) who showed up to support the National Chairman of the People’s National Convention (PNC), Bernard Mornah, who was invited by the top hierarchy of Police CID yesterday, for questioning over his comments considered a threat to the Electoral Commission (EC) with respect to its new voters’ register.
“How do you invite Bernard Mornah who was advising? What did Bernard Mornah say? He said if you go ahead with this registration at this time, there would be confusion. If there is confusion you will beat us if you beat us you will kill us. How do you invite Bernard Mornah for that but you fail to invite Nana Obiri Boahen. What did Nana Obiri Boahen say? He said anybody who was opposed to this, they will beat you and kill you. Is it because Nana Boahen is a member of the NPP? Why has the police not invited Obiri Boahen or we have two different sets of laws in Ghana? We will continue to resist oppressor rule,” he said.
Mr George, asked that “those of us who believe in justice and those of us who believe in the truth are more than the police and army except they kill all of us”.
The MPs drove in circles, while honking continuously, around the premises of the police headquarters, in solidarity to with Bernard Mornah
Cassiel Ato Forson, Inusah Fuseini, A.B.A. Fuseini, Kwame Agboza, Adam Muntawakilu, Nii LanteVanderpuje, and many others.
Mr Mornarh, described his invitation as “high-handedness” and that he was “not guilty.”
He revealed that his timely intervention prevented a confrontation between his supporters and the police.
According to him, but for his peaceful nature, there would have been chaos at the premises of the CID, as, what he termed as the provocative behaviour of the police, almost elicited a reaction from his followers.
The police initially prevented Mr Mornah and scores of his supporters, who were accompanying him, from getting close to the Headquarters.
Commenting on the development on Eyewitness News, Mr Mornah, accused the police of deliberately trying to foment trouble with his arrest, but his timely intervention ensured that things were normalized without.
“But for my peaceful nature -when we got to the Fire Service junction, the manner in which the police started stretching forward was like they were ready to kill. If I had allowed the crowd that followed me into the Police Headquarters, I am sure we would be talking about a different scenario. I asked everybody to stay still. If I hadn’t done that, it will have led to a collision between them and the police. The police were battle-ready, coming with water canons, armoured cars, and virtually dressed ready to go for jungle warfare. The manner in which they came was provoking the crowd and if the crowd had acted otherwise, I am not sure we would have been talking now. Let it be known, that I have always been peaceful and I have always thought that we should have peace of our own” he said.
Mr Mornah’s supporters, most of whom were clad in red, were marching alongside him to the police headquarters where the PNC Chairman was expected to honour an invitation from the CID, over comments he made concerning the compilation of a new voters’ register.
Some armed police personnel stopped the group at the Police Headquarters traffic light and prevented them from proceeding to the premises.
He was, however, discharged after he and his lawyers were subsequently allowed into the premises of the Police Headquarters, following the temporary holdup.
An internal police memo which went viral had indicated that the police service had anticipated the crowd which accompanied the PNC chairman to the police headquarters, and hence, deployed a special security team to the area to ensure public order.
The CID on Thursday, May 28, 2020, issued the invitation to the PNC National Chairman, who is quoted to have said that he will resist every attempt by the EC to compile a new voters’ register.
“People who are already Ghanaians and already registered are going to be taken out of the voters’ register. Don’t think confusion will come at the registration station but if confusion comes there, you think the EC staff will be safe? We will beat each other there and we will kill each other there if that is what the EC wants to lead this nation to,” Mr. Mornah is reported to have said at a press conference organized by the Inter-Party Resistance Against New Register (IPRAN) on May 26, 2020.
But, Mr Mornah in an earlier interview said he does not see anything threatening about his comment.
According to him, his comment was only a piece of adviceto the EC against the compilation of a new register ahead of election 2020.
“I have said that if the Electoral Commission is intending to lead us through this dangerous path, they should know that there will be confusion…It is a caution. If caution becomes threats, I will not run away from it,” he stated.
MP for Wa Central, Rashid Pelpuo, said inviting Bernard Mornarh, was unnecessary as his comment was only a word of caution.
“I think the invitation is wrong. I think it’s an attempt to gag Bernard Monarh; he is not just a small man. He’s speaking and he’s reflecting what exactly can happen to us if we tamper with the new register. It is the heartbeat of our democracy and the government must be warned – that in tempering with this it can hurt our democracy we are all striving; and that’s just what Mornah was saying. So why will such a thing be a problem to government?” he stated.
MP for the Adaklu Constituency in the Volta region, Kwame Governs Agbodza said “I’m here to solidarise with our comrades Bernard Mornah and to force this government to respect the constitution. We are against this tyrannical of Akufo-Addo. We can’t even speak in our own country.
Mutawakilu Adam, MP for Damango, also raised concerns over Akufo-Addo’s style of leadership.
“Akufo-Addo is now more of a dictator than a democrat. Any small utterances that people make they want to subdue the person and make sure the person do not have the right to freedom of speech. We are fighting freedom of speech. He, Nana Addo said ‘all die be die’ who arrested him?”
Bernard Monarh, was invited by the police over an alleged inflammatory statement which strongly cautioned the EC of a potential outbreak of political violence at registration centers.
The PNC chairman said the likely violence will be as a result of the exclusion of the existing voters’ ID card from the list of identification requirements for the new voter registration exercise.
Source: The Herald
