Upper Manya Krobo NDC descends on police commander over ‘bias, intimidation’ allegations

National Democratic Congress (NDC) Executives in the Upper Manya Krobo Constituency in the Eastern Region have alleged that the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) is using personnel of the Ghana Police Service to torment and intimidate National Democratic Congress (NDC) members in his constituency.

The party in a press conference held at its party office at Asesewa on Sunday, November 15, 2020, accused District Police Commander, Superintendent John Yeboah of bias; alleging that they often ignore complaints from NDC members, but are quick to act on complaints from the NPP.

The statement signed by the party’s constituency organizer, James Djorbuah, Kwesi Lawer who is the spokesperson of the campaign team, and Isaac Tetteh Baah, the elections director and read by Kwesi Lawer alleged that the police administration in the Upper Manya Krobo constituency has allowed itself to be used by the NPP to foment trouble in the constituency.

Their complaints come after the police on Saturday, November 14, 2020, allegedly arrested six NDC activists who were undertaking party activities pertaining to house to house campaign and a political survey, allegedly on the orders of the local NPP executives.

“Acting on the directives of the directive of the top NPP executives here in Upper Manya Krobo, the police have arrested the NDC young men and women who had devoted themselves as party faithful and were doing house to house campaigning and a survey on political issues here in Upper Manya Krobo,” said Kwesi Lawer who believed that the action was borne out of “vindictiveness and hatred.”

The party which believes it has the right to conduct surveys wondered when conducting such activities amounted to breaking the law.

“When did conducting a research or a survey and campaigning become a crime in Ghana?” the party quizzed.

Though the six individuals allegedly arrested have been granted bail “after several hours of being in police custody”, the NDC believes the bail was granted reluctantly and further accused the police commander of acting unprofessionally.

The party, is therefore among others, demanding to know from the police within 24 hours of its press conference, the reason for the arrests, the complainants in the case, and which laws bar political parties from campaigning and conducting surveys.

It warns that the NPP and Police Commander be held responsible for any disturbances in the constituency if it fails to address its concerns within the stipulated time.

The NDC is also demanding a comprehensive roadmap to ensure maximum security for all residents ahead of the December 7 elections and called on its supporters to remain vigilant and security conscious.

NPP accuses NDC of warmongering, lies

In a quick rebuttal, however, the NPP accused its political opponents of peddling blatant falsehoods deliberately sowing seeds of insecurity.

Narrating the sequence of events leading to the “brief” detention of the NDC activities, a member of the Eastern Regional NPP Communication Team, Philip Kweku Mamphey who denied that the police acted on NPP orders.

Explaining further, Mr. Mamphey said the police were called in to restore order following altercations between members of the NDC campaign team and members of the community who were incensed by “inappropriate questions” being asked by the former.

“Some of their [NDC] youth went to the villages around Asesewa, precisely Odometa, asking the people if there won’t be war if they voted for the sitting President, Nana Akuffo Addo and the people, in turn, asked them, “are you here to campaign or to cause confusion?” Mr. Mamphey narrated, adding that this resulted in chaos.

Continuing, he said the police who got wind of the situation moved in and picked up members of the NDC to the station for questioning.

“The guys wrote their statements and within thirty minutes, they were discharged. Nobody detained them. What they [NDC] are saying is not true,” he explained further and accused the NDC of brewing confusion in the constituency to create a false sense of insecurity.

Very confident of a landslide victory for the NPP, the Eastern Regional NPP Communication member noted that the party was focused on campaigning on the good works done by the sitting Member of Parliament for the area, Joseph Tetteh, and President Akuffo Addo for the people of Upper Manya Krobo.