Arrest and prosecute NPP members who flouted nose masks order during primaries – Vitus Azeem

Renowned anti-corruption campaigner, Vitus Azeem has called for the arrest and prosecution of members of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) who were no in nose masks during Saturday’s parliamentary primaries, insisting that until that is done, President Akufo-Addo cannot claim to be upholding Rule of Law, which will reduce the law on nose masks to a piece of worthless paper.

Writing on Facebook, the former Executive Director of the Ghana Integrity Initiative, local chapter of Transparency International, maintained the harsh law, which fines culprits from GHC 4,000 to GHC 12,000 or a jail term of at least 4 years, must be applied on the President’s party members to demonstrate his commitment to the Rule of Law.

“I am convinced that all those who were not wearing face masks yesterday at the NPP primaries, including some Parliamentary candidates, will be traced, arrested, prosecuted and sentenced to a fine of GHS 12,000.00 or a jail term of 4 years [minimum]".

This is a President that has sworn to uphold the Rule of Law and we await his swift action. Otherwise, the law, which some of us have complained about, because of its unreasonable jail terms and fines, becomes a piece of paper on the shelves of some officials,” he asserted.

He added that persons in the Asante Akim North Constituency who ignored a court injunction and went ahead to hold the parliamentary primaries must face the full rigours of the law as well, adding that the Judiciary needs to be prayed for as it will adjudicate on many election related matters this year.

“As for those who ignored the injunction and went ahead to conduct the elections, the case of Mr. Daniel Domelovo, who was performing his duties as a public officer but genuinely erred, is fresh in our minds".

"We need to pray for our Judiciary and the judges for this is an election year and they will be confronted with controversial cases. I will come back with a special request for prayers for them during the week,” he noted.

The NPP held parliamentary primaries in over 100 constituencies across the country to select candidates for the constituencies with incumbent NPP MPs.

Many persons could be seen not wearing nose masks or wearing them wrongly.