CID boss chases EC officials

Reports reaching Daily Guide indicate that the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service is pursuing the Electoral Commission (EC) to interdict two of the commission’s senior officials who were alleged to have taken bribe from Prophet Daniel Nkansah.

On Monday, October 22, the police arrested the EC’s Director of Elections, Isaac Kofi Asomaning and the Director for Logistics, Asante Kissi, for allegedly collecting GH¢1,600 from Prophet Nkansah whose nomination as the presidential candidate of the New Vision Party (NVP) was rejected by the EC.

Prophet Nkansah, who is involved in a series of fraud cases in different courts, had claimed that the two EC men demanded the amount to facilitate the filing of his nomination forms, but this has been vehemently denied by the suspects.

A letter signed on October 31, by the Commissioner of CID, COP Prosper Kwame Agblor to the EC Chairman, complained to the commission that “the continuous stay in office of the two officers named above is impacting negatively on our investigation”.

The CID therefore asked the EC to tell the two officers “to step aside till the conclusion of our investigation”.

The EC then answered the CID, making it clear that until the investigations established any prima facie case, the effected officers would not quit their posts.

A source at the EC told Daily Guide that the EC Chairman had been “very resolute” on the matter. “His position has been that it is against the law for the police to ask officers to vacate post when they have not been formally charged. They cannot coerce anybody to indict them.”

Another source said from all indications, the police were likely to refer the matter to the Attorney General’s Department for advice.

The two EC officers are said to be in the process of suing Prophet Nkansah for defamation.