Gregory being persecuted because of his brother Paul Afoko – Arthur Kennedy

New Patriotic Party (NPP) stalwart Dr. Arthur Kobina Kennedy has suggested that the way and manner Gregory Afoko is being prosecuted for his alleged role in the murder of former New Patriotic Party (NPP) Upper East Regional chairman Adam Mahama amounts to persecution actuated by a vendetta against his brother Paul Afoko, a former NPP National Chairman.

In a video posted by Dr Arthur Kennedy on social media, he complained that the filing of a nolle prosequi during Mr Gregory Afoko’s first trial, his re-arrest and retrial and now an announcement to retry him after a jury pronounced him not guilty amount to an agenda to persecute him as a way of getting at his elder brother, Paul Afoko.

“The Government has already announced its intention to retry Mr Gregory Afoko. The question is: how many times is he going to be retried? I know that the President and the Attorney General are good people who mean well.

But what began as a prosecution for justice is becoming a persecution for a vendetta, a vendetta against his brother, Paul Afoko. [This is] because, if you recall, immediately after the murder was committed, some bigwigs in the NPP pressured his brother, Paul Afoko, to resign because his brother [Gregory Afoko] was a suspect. That was really unusual. The question is how many times is he going to be tried. And I believe that looking at the circumstances, it is time to let Mr Afoko go home to his family; he has been in jail longer than the term that his brother won. And it seems he is been persecuted for his brother being elected as NPP Chairperson,” he complained.

Following the murder of Adam Mahama through an acid attack in 2015, Mr Gregory Afoko was arrested and put before the court. But before judgment could be given, the Government through the Attorney General filed a nolle prosequi to discontinue the case.

Mr Afoko was released and immediately rearrested and arraigned before Court again. He has now been pronounced not guilty again by a jury but the Government that is still holding him in custody has pledged to put him through trial again.

Some critics including Dr Arthur Kobina Kennedy, have raised concerns about the processes, accusing Government of persecuting him.