STATEMENT READ BY THE DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS OF THE NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC

CONGRESS (NDC), LAWYER KAKRA ESSAMUAH ON THE HARASSMENT AND INTIMIDATION OF

THE NDC NATIONAL COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER, SAMUEL GYAMFI

Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen of the media.

Yesterday, Ghana descended into one of its darkest days under the fourth republic. Men from
the Police Criminal Investigations Department (CID) arrested in Gestapo style, the National
Communications Officer of our party at the premises of a television station in Accra, Ghana,
after he had appeared on a programme there.
These men did not respect the freedom of the media and the fact that Mr. Gyamfi was the
guest of the television station. The basis for this needless show of excessive power, was that
the Executive Secretary to the President, who is also his cousin, Nana Asante Bediatuo, had
lodged a complaint against him over some alleged cyber- crime.
We are in no doubt, that this charge is trumped up and is designed as retribution against our
courageous National Communications Officer for the brilliant and emphatic way he exposed
the jam-packing of the Akufo-Addo government with dozens of relatives and friends including
Asante Bediatuo.
It is not difficult to establish the reason for Bediatuo’s vendetta against our able
Communications Officer. Because he had hoped that the fact of his nuclear family being
members the Akufo-Addo government will remain hidden.
Ladies and gentlemen, the NDC has credible intelligence, that this arrest forms part of a larger
scheme of intimidation and harassment calculated at breaking our front and cowering us into
silence in the run up to the 2020 elections.
Sensing a humiliating defeat in the elections because of the pronounced maladministration
characterized by massive corruption, unprecedented levels of nepotism, excruciating
economic hardships, arrogance and waste of public resources through ostentation, the Akufo-
Addo government has resorted to these discredited tactics to stay afloat.
Sadly, some elements within the Ghana Police Service who should otherwise act professionally
have allowed themselves to be used as pliant tools in the execution of this sinister agenda of
hate and harassment against opponents and critics of President Akufo-Addo.
Ladies and gentlemen of the press, in the process they have chosen to disregard the sanctity
of our courts and treated them with contempt.
You would recall, that the attempts to arrest our National Communications Officer is not new.
It started in December last year. Subsequent to this, he filed an application at the human rights
court to prevent the breach of his fundamental human rights by the Police.
He followed this up with an injunction application to prevent the police from arresting him in
the manner they had planned.
These processes are yet to be determined by the courts, but settled law clearly establishes that
the pendency of these cases prevents the police from taking any further action against Mr.
Gyamfi until the parties have been heard or until the police has managed to set them aside
through due process.
Under a supposed human rights lawyer as President, and with the obvious instigation of a
vengeful Jubilee House, the Police has been emboldened to treat the court processes with total
contempt. This is a matter that Mr. Gyamfi’s lawyers will take prompt action on.
As we await these steps, we wish to make clear to President Akufo-Addo and his hawkish
relatives in government that the path of intimidation and harassment they have chosen is a
futile one.
If the intent is to cow the NDC into keeping quiet over the horrible governance he is offering,
then he is grossly mistaken.
The NDC is an unshakable force that has dominated the country’s politics since our return to
constitutional rule. This is a party that has defeated the NPP four out of seven times in national
elections.
We more than possess the capacity to withstand and fend off such brazen attacks on our
leaders and members.
We have the resolve to wait out a hapless government consumed by the lust for power and a
President who mistakes the mandate of the people for his birthright and family heirloom hence
his abuse of same to entrench himself in power.
Ordering the Police Service to carry out unlawful and draconian arrests has never saved any
President from being thrown out when his time is up. High-handed and hot-headed measures
can never mask the glaring ineptitude of his government and the crisis they have plunged this
country into.
The people of Ghana are clear about what they face in their daily lives and the unbearable
difficulties occasioned by the poor management of the country’s affairs by this government
and will not be swayed by trumped up and frivolous charges against leading members of the
opposition.
On our own part, we wish to tell President Akufo-Addo that enough is enough. While remaining
law abiding, we will not sit like ducks on top of water to be picked up one after the other by a
handful of rogue elements within the Police acting on misguided orders from the Presidency.
We shall challenge the abuse of power to every extent possible. We shall deploy every legal
and social arsenal at our disposal in defence of our rights to free expression and freedom of
association.
We shall also defend our rights to privacy and means of communication. Especially the
creeping practice of this government in using the police and the courts to intrude and intercept
the private communications of citizens.
In the pursuit of these rights and that of all Ghanaians, we shall not tire, we shall not rest, we
shall not falter and we shall not relent. We are unwilling to surrender our rights to a
democratically elected leader who is carrying himself as a despot.
Fellow Ghanaians, in the coming days, we will be outlining a series of activities aimed at
opposing in the strongest possible terms, the acts of suppression by President Akufo-Addo and
his hawkish relatives in government.
In conclusion, we would also like to remind the Ghana Police Service that their first and
foremost responsibility is the maintenance of law and order. Their loyalty must be to the state
and the people of Ghana.
They are not appendages of Akufo-Addo and must not act as such, even if some of their senior
officers have gained undeserved promotions motivated by political considerations. Their role
should not be the needless and shameful intimidation of the opposition.
As they would be aware, political power is transient and we are convinced that the political
hawks at the Jubilee House from whom they are taking instructions to behave so capriciously
would be there one year from today.
As I have indicated earlier, we will be embarking on a series of activities to press home our
demand for an immediate cessation of the harassment and intimidation of our leading
members and we will make public a road map in the coming days.
Thank you very much.