The chairman of the People’s National Convention (PNC), Bernard Mornah, was arrested on Saturday morning by the police for engaging in an act, 3news.com sources say amounted to illegality.
He was bundled together with a security analyst Ibard Ibrahim and whisked to the Nima Police Station in Accra where they were detained.
The two were picked up among a crowd that had gathered at the Kawukudi park at Kanda near the Accra Girls School to rally in support of the volatility in neighbouring Togo.
Demoralized Bernard Mornah said he was at a loss why the police would act in such “uncouth manner” in a country that prides itself on upholding human rights, especially the freedom of its citizens.
According to him, they were at the event ground gathering momentum to be addressed by the various speakers when the Police Director of Operations for the Accra Command, Chief Superintendent Kwesi Ofori approached them.
“He said he has instructions from above to scatter our gathering,” Mornah recounted to TV3’s Prince Affum, which he said the organisers of the rally resisted.
He claimed the senior police officer called for reinforcement, he was later arrested and “threw me into the Pickup as a piece of wood and brought me to the police station”.
The PNC chairman said the police was notified of the gathering and even held a meeting with Mr. kwesi Ofori on Friday.
“This is strange” he described his arrest, pointing to the fact that similar rallies were held in other parts of Africa and yet they did not attract any police brutalities.
He therefore questioned why the Ghana Police Service will carried itself “in such archaic form” by arresting people without telling them exactly why they have been arrested.
He accused Ghana’s National Security Minister, Ken Dapaah, of “hobnobbing” with the government of Togo, which suggested that “Ghana is complicit in the undemocratic order in Togo; this is very unfortunate”.
He has meanwhile communicated his arrest to his lawyer, Raymond Atuguba to intervene.
Meanwhile, 3news.com has a copy of a letter addressed to the Inspector General of Police dated December 5, 2017 concerning the rally at Kawukudi.
It was signed by Bernard Mornah as the convener of a group calling itself the Ghana-Togo Solidarity Movement.
“Our rally is to draw attention to the decaying situation in Togo. As you are aware, the masses of Togo have for time now been protesting peacefully for the full bouquet of Democratic rights and the abolition of dynastic rule,” the letter stated.
By Isaac Essel | 3news.com | Ghana