NDC Deputy General Secretary Mustapha Gbande has admitted that he instructed the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) to arrest Manhyia South MP Nana Agyei Baffour Awuah.
Speaking on JoyNews, Mr Gbande insisted that the directive was not connected to the MP’s role as legal counsel for senior nursing officer Salomey Awiti-Baffoe, despite suggestions that the arrest attempt was politically motivated.
“I told him to arrest him. I wouldn’t lie about it,” Mr Gbande said.
According to him, his directive followed concerns over the conduct of the Manhyia South legislator and was made from a security perspective.
Mr Gbande explained that he was particularly concerned about what he described as attempts by individuals to openly defy invitations from law enforcement agencies and challenge authorities to arrest them.
“I met the EOCO boss; I told him to arrest the guy. Let the whole world come to an end. Arrest him,” he said during an interview on JoyNews Pulse.
He maintained that individuals invited by law enforcement agencies over alleged offences have a responsibility to cooperate with investigations, regardless of their political status or position.
Mr Gbande argued that no political office-holder should consider themselves above the law simply because of their position.
“Never should I sit anywhere and say that because I am a deputy general secretary of a party, I am bigger than the laws of Ghana,” he stated.
He said Mr Baffour Awuah should have honoured EOCO’s invitation, provided the necessary statement and allowed the investigative process to proceed instead of organising a press conference over the matter.
Mr Gbande also rejected suggestions that law enforcement agencies are required to publicly announce an intended arrest before taking action.
“There’s no law that says that when a law enforcement agency is doing its work, it should come to media houses and tell them that I’m going to arrest somebody,” he said.
He insisted that where there are reasonable grounds to suspect that an offence has been committed, the appropriate law enforcement authorities have the mandate to investigate and take the necessary action.
Mr Gbande’s comments come amid controversy surrounding the attempted arrest of the Manhyia South MP and growing debate over the relationship between political actors, law enforcement agencies and the exercise of legal rights in Ghana.
