Alexander Afenyo-Markin, the Minority Leader and Member of Parliament for Effutu, has condemned the continuous detention of Kwame Baffoe, popularly known as Abronye DC.
Afenyo-Markin expressed worry about what he called two types of Ghana, one for the NDC and the other for the NPP.
Speaking to the media at the Accra Circuit Court on September 12, Afenyo-Markin stated, “The police invited him on Monday, September 8. He responded to the invitation, went with his lawyers, and submitted himself to interrogations. Within an hour of interrogations, he was whisked into NIB custody”.
“Why would the police, investigating a matter and having their own cells, decide to send a citizen who is being investigated on a matter which is a misdemeanour into NIB custody?” he questioned.
He further explained, “Our checks at the NIB confirm that the NIB is not interrogating Abronye. Neither are they investigating him. According to the NIB, they are only the recipient of the man Abronye. In other words, the police sent him there so that they could keep him. That is why they received him. But they are not the ones who are investigating”.
“So the question is, why would the Ghana Police Service claim to be investigating a person and rather decide to send him to NIB cells? Is it to punish him or what?”
The minority leader added, “They kept him the whole of the night, and on Tuesday morning, being the 9th, he was brought to court.
“When they brought him to court, the police insisted that they still needed him for further investigation; therefore, they wanted him to be remanded into lawful custody. Of course, the judge upheld the application and remanded Abronye to be brought to court today.
He emphasised, “That is why I say there are two types of Ghana, one for the NDC and the other for the NPP”.
Afenyo-Markin called on the government and the Police Service to put an end to such practices, “Let us build one Ghana for all, not two Ghanas for political convenience,” he concluded.
Also, Godfred Yeboah Dame, the former Attorney General and Minister of Justice, has fired the John Mahama-led government following the detention of the Bono Regional Chairman of the NPP, Kwame Baffoe, commonly known as Abronye DC.
Dame highlighted that even Ato Forson, Collins Dauda and Richard Jakpa got self-recognition bail when he was the Attorney General.
According to Dame, Abronye should have been granted bail because the allegations against him are a misdemeanour.
He asserted that the level of intolerance of the Mahama administration is very reprehensible.
Speaking on the matter, Godfred Dame stated, “The most important thing is that tomorrow the matter is coming up, and I’m sure the court would be minded to grant him bail. Even in the most serious offences I prosecuted in my time, the treason trial, on the very first day, all the accused persons were granted bail.
“I prosecuted very high-profile figures in the NPP: Collins Dauda, Ato Forson, and Richard Jakpa, who has been given a high position in this administration. All of them were granted bail with very, very flexible terms,” he said.
He added, “Ato Forson was given self-recognisance bail, Collins Dauda the same thing, even Jakpa, with all the difficulties, a Justice of the Supreme Court called me and I said let him be allowed to go.”
Dame further called on the government to be tolerant saying, “The level of intolerance of this administration is very reprehensible; it ought not to be condoned in any democracy.”
Meanwhile, the Accra Circuit Court has remanded NPP’s Bono Regional Chairman, Kwame Baffoe, commonly known as Abronye, into police custody.
Abronye has been remanded into police custody for one week.
The Court explained that the remand is to allow prosecutors sufficient time to conduct further investigations into the case.