Attempts to draw similarities between the freeing of eight members of the Delta Force, a private security arm within the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), for raiding a court and freeing persons on trial, and the case of the NDC-affiliated Montie Three who were jailed for scandalising the Supreme Court of Ghana, are surprising because the two are not on the same scale, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, Member of Parliament for North Tongu, has said.
According to him, members of the Delta Force actually acted on their motives and stormed a court of competent jurisdiction to free suspects standing trial whereas the Montie 3 only issued threats at the justices of the Supreme Court. The two scenarios are not the same, he believed.
His comments follow the decision of a Kumasi Circuit Court to strike out the case against the eight persons who aided the escape of the 13 Delta Force members arrested for assaulting the security coordinator of the Ashanti Region, George Agyei.
The court, presided over by Her Honour Patricia Amponsah, discontinued the case on Wednesday May 17 because the prosecution lacked evidence against the accused.
The eight were charged with causing disturbances in court, resisting arrest, and rescuing persons in lawful custody.
According to the prosecutor, ACP Okyere Darko, the police did not have enough evidence to support the charges levelled against the accused persons.
Soon after the court decision, some persons took to social media and defended the withdrawal of the case by the Attorney General’s Department, saying the actions of the eight men were not as serious as the comments made by the Montie Three which earned them jail time.
But commenting on this development in an interview with Chief Jerry Forson, host of Ghana Yensom, on Accra100.5FM on Thursday May 18, Mr Ablakwa said: “This comparison is shocking because the Montie 3 just issued threats on radio.
But with the Delta Force they have moved beyond threat, have acted and entered the court in a Rambo style.
There has been no assault on the judiciary like this. It beats my imagination, the attempts to compare the two situations. I don’t see how anybody can seek equalisation by comparing the two.”