2024 Election: Court remands Independent Parliamentary Candidate for Effutu

The High Court in Winneba on Thursday, November 28, 2024, remanded the independent parliamentary candidate for the Effutu Constituency, Louisa Buabeng.

According to ChannelOne TV, the court remanded the independent parliamentary candidate for the upcoming December 7 election on charges of conspiracy to commit a crime.

She was charged with the crime because some voter ID cards were allegedly found at her aide's residence, leading to her arrest and detainment on November 20, 2024.

In a post shared on X (formerly Twitter), the media house indicated that Louisa Buabeng was rearrested on Wednesday, November 27, 2024, evening and presented before the court on Thursday.

She was remanded for four days and is expected to reappear before the court on Monday, December 1, 2024.

Her aide has also been charged with unlawful possession of documents.

A video from the court showed the Member of Parliament for Effutu, Alexander Kwamina Afenyo-Markin, who is seeking re-election, at the court.

The MP is allegedly behind the criminal complaint against his contender, Louisa Buabeng.

The independent candidate could also be seen in the video being escorted into a vehicle.

Background:

Legal counsel for Louisa Buabeng disclosed the circumstances surrounding the arrest of the independent parliamentary candidate after she was arrested on November 20, 2024.

Confirming the incident in an interview on TV3's Ghana Tonight, Jennifred Adjei said the police arrested her client on fraud charges. However, her client has since been granted police inquiry bail.

Jennifred Adjei said that armed police officers stormed the court premises to effect her arrest for allegedly committing fraud.

"The arrest came about after we had left the courtroom, and there were a lot of armed policemen at the premises of the court waiting for my client. In fact, when we were inside, we never saw anything like that until we came out. Initially, I thought these were armed men guarding Afenyo-Markin, but, until events turned, that was when I got to know that things are actually not what I thought.

"The information was that they were receiving orders from above, so I approached them to find out where the order was from and on what basis they were arresting my client, but they were unable to tell me. After making some calls to the commander, they came back, informing me that they were inviting her [Louisa] for the offence of fraud. I told them to go and bring my client personally, but they declined," she said.

Adjei said he was informed that no individual had filed a complaint against his client, Louisa Buabeng and that the police were only acting based on a suspicious petition, accusing Louisa of forging signatures on her nomination forms.

He added that the EC had vetted the nomination forms, giving the green light to Louisa Buabeng to contest as an independent candidate.

"… I enquired whether there was a complainant in this case, but the first thing is nobody has lodged a complaint. The police were only relying on a suspicious petition presented by somebody that we do not know, that my client had forged the signatories on her nomination forms. This is a nomination form that has been vetted by the EC and is the same nomination form that ended up in the hands of the parliamentary candidate of the NPP.

"We have been asking questions about where the order [to arrest Louisa] came from, but we haven't received any answers. They brought about 15-20 armed policemen just to arrest one single lady for an offence she has no knowledge of for just a suspicious alleged offence on the basis of a petition presented by somebody else," he said.

Adjei, expressing his disappointment over the ordeal of Louisa Buabeng, said she was handcuffed by the police, who allegedly ransacked her residence but found nothing to implicate her.

"What the petition entails is that the person who presented the petition said he suspects forgery. There is no evidence to that effect, and the person is only basing that petition on suspicion. My client was detained and has been released. She was handcuffed and taken to her house by the police, who ransacked her home in the name of conducting a search, but they never got anything out of that. We have secured police inquiry bail for her and will take the necessary steps," he added.

Louisa Buabeng is seeking an injunction on the December 7 parliamentary elections at the Winneba High Court as she has accused the Electoral Commission of leaking her nomination documents to the public.

Watch the video below:

WATCH: Independent Parliamentary candidate Louisa Buabeng, contesting the Effutu seat, has been remanded by the Winneba High Court on charges of conspiracy to commit a crime. She was arrested after voter ID cards were allegedly found at her aide’s residence.

Buabeng, initially… pic.twitter.com/lIGH4RXsVf

— ChannelOne TV (@Channel1TVGHA) November 28, 2024

BAI/MA

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