Minority Walks in Solidarity With Sam George

By Anita Nyarko-Yirenkyi And Julius Yao Petetsi

MINORITY caucus in Parliament yesterday staged a protest march in solidarity with Ningo Prampram member, Samuel Nartey George, who was assaulted during the Ayawaso West Wuogon by-election on January 31 by armed men said to operatives of National Security.

The peaceful march from Parliament House to the headquarters of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the Police Service here in Accra was preceded by a boycott of the House.

The caucus, during the swearing-in ceremony of the newly elected Member of Parliament for Ayawaso West Wuogon, Lydia Seyram Alhassan, walked out arguing that it could not accept the outcome of the polls which was characterised by violence.

Clad in all black and a touch of red, the Minority lawmakers defied the scotchy sun to walk to the Police's outfit hand-in-hand in unity as they discussed among themselves events of the by-election.

The march to the Police Headquarters was in response to an invitation given the Ningo-Prampram MP by the Police to give his account of what happened on the day as the Police launch investigations into the skirmishes.

Though Samuel George officially lodged a complaint with the Legon Police on the day of the incident, his statement was not taken hence the invitation for his statement to be taken.

Upon arrival at the Police Headquarters after the 15-minute walk, the Minority, led by its Chief Whip, Alhaji Muntaka, dispatched a team of lawyers among them to escort Samuel George as he proceeded to write his statement.

The lawyers include Alhaji Inusah Fuseini, MP, Tamale Central, Bernard Ahiafor, Akatsi South, James Agalga, Builsa North, Nelson Dafeamekpor, South Dayi and First Deputy Minority Whip, Ibrahim Ahmed.

Another team, led by Alhaji Muntaka himself also met with the top hierarchy of the Ghana Police Service in a closed meeting believed to be on happenings in the country.

Briefing the media after the teams returned about 30 minutes later, Alhaji Muntaka said the Minority was committed to the peace of the country and would follow laid down procedures to have their concerns addressed.

Describing the Ayawaso West Wuogon incident as a "state sponsored violence and terror" Alhaji Muntaka said "it is our strong conviction that violence and state orchestrated terror has no place in our democratic dispensation".

Ghana, the Asawase MP said, had hitherto been the beacon and a reference point in the sub-region for its enviable democratic credentials and that such credential must be jealously guarded.

Condemning the election related violence as "despicable" "Alhaji Muntaka said they were resolved to rise up to their obligation under Article 41 of the 1992 Constitution which enjoins citizens to "Uphold and defend" the constitution.

Decrying the lack arrests six days after the incident, Alhaji Muntaka held President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo responsible for the violence "especially when his Minister of National Security, Mr. Bryan Acheampong, publicly admitted that National Security, under the chairmanship of President Akufo-Addo deployed and supervised this daylight barbarism".

He served notice that the Minority will roll out a series of actions "until a national enquiry is commissioned and until the perpetrators including the masked cowards are brought to justice".

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