Oliver slams ‘immature’ IGP over letter to British High C’ssioner

Kqushan

Dr George Akuffo Dampare, the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), has come under fire from activist and lawyer Oliver Mawuse Barker-Vormawor for his four-page answer to a tweet by British High Commissioner to Ghana Harriet Thompson.

The IGP’s letter, according to Mr Barker-Vormawor, was “deliberately immature.”

On Monday, June6, he spoke exclusively to Berla Mundi on TV3’s New Day.

High Commissioner Harriet Thompson had tweeted on Tuesday, May 17 to express concerns about the arrest of Mr Barker-Vormawor for a traffic offence.

But the IGP wrote to the UK envoy to call her to order, asking her to observe the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations as he considered her tweet an infraction of that statute.

“What is more, we consider your tweet a violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations 1961 which enjoins diplomatic missions not to interfere in the internal affairs of their host countries.

“Your Excellency, the fact that you use the phrase ‘arrested again’, we believe, must mean you were making reference to previous occasions Mr Barker-Vormawor was arrested for threatening the security of the state and recently for motor traffic offences.”

HE Harriet Thompson has since clarified her tweet and played down any effects on the peace and stability of Ghana.

My tweet wouldn’t get peace-loving Ghanaians onto the streets – British High C’ssioner to IGP

Very unnecessary response

— Efo Yao (@klutsevictor) May 31, 2022

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration has since intervened and promised to resolve the matter amicably between the top officers at the Ghana Police Service and the British High Commission.

The lead convenor for #FixTheCountry Movement stressed that the fear of calling out senior public officials for wrong should be put in the past and the IGP should be called out for his “deliberately immature” response.

OTHER NEWS: We didn’t say we wanted to do armed demo – #FixTheCountry’s Barker-Vormawor

A Convener of the #FixTheCountry Movement, Oliver Barker-Vormawor, has said his group did not plan to embark on an armed demonstration as was reported by the Police in a statement.

He said all they wanted was for a private security to protect the demonstration, not the Police.

“I was at a press conference and people started calling me, saying, we were going to do an armed demonstration. At no point did we say we wanted to do an armed demonstration.

“What we are saying is that we want a private security protection and if any weapon is held by them it is going to be licensed by the Arms and Ammunition Decree,” he told Berla Mundi on the New Day show on TV3 Monday June 6.

Violence and the use of Guns by demonstrators cannot be acceptable in any democratic society.

Leaders of the June 4 demonstration must be condemned for contemplating this disastrous path — they must stop it or be stopped! pic.twitter.com/18Y9i0KZJR

— Sam Okudzeto Ablakwa (@S_OkudzetoAblak) June 2, 2022

the group has been condemned for planning to stage a violent demonstration.

For example, North Tongu Member of Parliament Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa said violence and the use of guns by demonstrators could not be acceptable in any democratic society like Ghana.

To that end, he said, the leaders of the planned June 4 armed demonstration must be condemned for contemplating this “disastrous path — they must stop it or be stopped!”

“Violence and the use of Guns by demonstrators cannot be acceptable in any democratic society. Leaders of the June 4 demonstration must be condemned for contemplating this disastrous path — they must stop it or be stopped!” Mr Ablakwa tweeted.

The Accra Regional Command of the Ghana Police Service declined a request from some persons including broadcaster Godsbrain Smart, popularly known as Captain Smart, and #FixTheCountry convener Oliver Barker-Vormawor to demonstrate.

The Police said the nature and character of the demonstration as intended, is inconsistent with with the Public Order Act hence the decision to stop it.

The demonstration would have taken three days and allowed the leaders to address the nation on GTV.

“The Accra Police Regional Command on Sunday May 29 2022 received a notice of intention to embark on a demonstration by a group of persons : Okatakyie Afrifa Mensah, Captain Godsbrain, Benjamin Darko, Oliver Barker-Vormawor.

“The service is of the view that the nature and character of the demonstration as intended, is inconsistent with with the Public Order Act,” the Police said in a statement.