Produce recording of $1m bribe meeting - Kan Dapaah's ministry dares Barker-Vormawor

The Ministry of National Security has denied ever attempting to bribe #FixTheCountry convener Oliver Barker-Vormawor so he stops staging demonstrations.

Mr Barker-Vormawor had alleged that the Akufo-Addo government, through National Security Minister Albert Kan Dapaah offered him money and an appointment so he could stop his activism against the government.

He told journalists on Friday, 22 September 2023, following his release from police custody after being arrested along with other fellow #OccupyJulorbiHouse demonstrators that "unknown to the government, we have recordings" of those meetings with Mr Kan Dapaah.

He said: "While I was in the UK, the National Security Minister called and invited me for a sit-down. The government offered to pay for my flight, in order to meet here in Ghana".

"This was something that was never disclosed to the public", he said, "but we met at a safe house for us to stop our activism," Mr Barker-Vormawor narrated.

"This was way before we started the first #FixTheCountry demonstration," he noted.

"We were offered not only money but appointments; and if we agreed to stop this, we were going to be free, but the most important thing was not to bring citizens onto the streets," he claimed.

He said: "When we rejected that, Kan Dapaah, the National Security Minister, said to my face that if we decide to continue on this course of action, we will be arrested."

"We will be dealt with and that it will be over his dead body any demonstrations will happen. At the time we were even in Supreme Court at the time," he said.

"So, I was not surprised that I was ultimately arrested by the government and continue being charged for treason," he said, adding: "For over two years now, the government has tried to prevent us from mobilising people."

In a statement, however, the ministry acknowledged that the Ministers of National Security, and Finance; and other relevant stakeholders, in 2021, engaged the conveners of the Fix the Country Movement to listen to their concerns, but added: "It must be stated emphatically that no offer of money or appointment was made to persuade the group to end its 'activism'".

"The allegations made by Oliver Barker-Vormawor are, thus, false, unfounded, and a calculated attempt to hoodwink Ghanaians", the statement noted.

"This Ministry, therefore, challenges him to produce the alleged recording of the said inducement. Meanwhile, the general public is urged to ignore the allegations and treat them with the utmost contempt they deserve", the statement added.