By William
Yaw Owusu
Monday December
18 , 2017
National Organizer of the opposition National
Democratic Congress, Kofi Adams, has said that those calling for the arrest of a
member of the party - Abraham Amaliba - are joking.
Mr. Amaliba, a private legal practitioner, recently
threatened mayhem if the chairperson of the Electoral Commission (EC),
Charlotte Osei, is removed from office by President Akufo-Addo’s New Patriotic
Party (NPP) government.
Three top officials of the EC, including Mrs. Charlotte
Osei, are facing a probe committee set up by the Chief Justice following petitions
of wrongdoing filed against them.
However, the NDC jumped to the defence of the EC
boss, leaving out her two deputies - Amadu Sulley and Mrs. Georgina Opoku-Amankwah
- who were roped into the EC alleged scandal by the chairperson herself. The three top EC officers were all appointed
by the NDC administration, but has rather decided to stand behind Mrs Charlotte
Osei.
The petition against her was initiated by some
workers of the commission and she is leading the charge of wrongdoing against Mr
Amadu Sulley and Ms Georgina Opoku-Amankwa, in-charge of Operations and
Corporate Services respectively.
In what looks like the opposition party has more to
lose, should Mrs Charlotte Osei be impeached, some of its (party’s) key
elements are even putting their lives on the line to fight for her, saying the
whole action is being pushed by the NPP government.
Mr. Amaliba queried on Accra FM on Tuesday “…What has the woman done? She has declared
election results in your favour and so what again do they want from her that
they are using the process to harass her?” adding, “Where are the CDDs? Where
are the OccupyGhanas? If it were to be the NDC government all these people
would be speaking by now. Where is Emile Short? Where is Professor Martey? This
country will burn and we will see where all of us will be and so they should
continue doing it.”
In the ensuing debate, some people have also raised
concern about Mr. Amaliba’s comment, insisting that the utterances of the NDC
member have the potential to spark war, if he is not arrested.
Bernard Antwi-Boasiako aka Chairman Wontumi, the NPP
Ashanti Regional Chairman who is one of those pushing for the arrest of the NDC
member, said that that statement was reckless and must not be condoned.
“The IGP must not waste time in arresting Amaliba
for him to explain himself. He’s a lawyer, he knows the law and should not be
speaking foolishly. When Hon. Ken Agyapong made a statement that was considered
problematic, he was arrested. I was also arrested for pronouncements I made,
why can’t same be applied to Amaliba?” Wontumi wondered.
But Mr Kofi Adams said Mr. Amaliba could not be
arrested because there was nothing wrong with what he (Amaliba) had said.
“I don’t think that anybody is very serious with
such an arrest of Lawyer Amaliba who indicated that flimsy issues are being
used as basis to remove the Chairperson of the EC and that if this continue, it
will not augur well for the country.”
“Can’t people express their thoughts anymore in
Ghana? Or there is no more freedom of expression in Ghana after Akufo-Addo won
the elections,” Kofi Adam said, adding "those persons calling for arrest
of Amaliba are not serious, may be they are joking with their demands.”
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