NDC MP questions Akufo-Addo’s ‘order’ for Nyantakyi's arrest

A member of the Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee in Parliament has raised concerns with the directives by the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, to the Criminal Investigations Directorate (CID) of the Ghana Police Service to arrest President of the Ghana Football Association (GFA), Kwesi Nyantakyi.

Mr. Rockson-Nelson Etse Kwami Dafeamekpor, who is the Member of Parliament for South Dayi Constituency in the Volta Region, said the President has no basis to order the CID to arrest the GFA President.

President Akufo-Addo on Tuesday reported Mr Nyantakyi to the CID for the immediate arrest of the head of GFA, Kwesi Nyantakyi, for defrauding by false pretences.

He took the action after a security briefing on Anas Aremeyaw Anas’ latest investigative exposé on Ghana’s football scene.

The film has not been publicly screened yet but it is believed Mr. Nyantakyi, who has been the President of the GFA for 13 years, may have been caught on camera in a compromised situation, using the name of the president.

Reacting to the issue on Onua FM’s Yen Nsempa hosted by Bright Kwasi Asempa on Wednesday, Mr. Dafeamekpor said “you don’t cause his arrest. You direct the CID to investigate him. He did not do the announcement well”.

“The announcement should have been the President has directed the CID to investigate the matter because the President has been implicated in the video,” the MP explained.

He said “because [Kwesi Nyantakyi] said in the video that he has the president in his pocket. The man is alleged to have said that he has both of [the President and the Vice] in his pocket [and] that implicates them”.

“It appears they are in a hurry to do a cover-up and when you do things like this, you create a political scandal at the Presidency. It is the President who is now directing the arrest of the person and creating a political scandal at the Presidency and financial scandal for the GFA,” the MP added.