Minority Leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin has accused the government of colluding with the Koforidua High Court to harass the Member of Parliament for Akwatia, Ernest Yaw Kumi.
He made the allegation following a response from the interior minister, Mohammed Mubarak Muntaka, on the matter.
According to him, the justification of attempts to arrest Kumi after the Koforidua High Court issued a bench warrant against him for contempt affirms his assertions.
Addressing journalists, the Effutu MP slammed the National Investigation Bureau (NIB), alleging that the government and judiciary were manipulating legal procedures for political purposes.
The lawmaker also questioned the enforcement process of the court order, arguing that the registrar, not the National Security Coordinator’s representative in the Eastern Region, should have been responsible for its execution.
“The NIB attempted to arrest the honourable Ernest Kumi of Akwatia. We found it very strange that the minister justified the actions of the National Investigation Bureau. Clearly, there’s collusion between the government and the high court in Koforidua to use their own set of laws in our country.
“How can the minister tell us that the court order could be enforced by the national security coordinator rep in the Eastern Region, and the rep, upon receipt of the so-called court order, also forwarded it to the National Investigation Bureau?”
“With the greatest respect, that is not how our laws work. When there is a court order, it is for the registrar to assign a bailiff for the purposes of enforcing the order. This was a situation where the Supreme Court had already frozen the enforcement of that order. So for a week after the ruling of the court to hear that now state security operatives were harassing the member of parliament in his constituency but for the intervention of his constituents.
“They were armed with pickup vehicles, and in fact, they actually pulled weapon, a pistol on the MP trying to threaten him, to force him into the pickup. I think that the NDC government must know that this country is a country of rule of law.
“And I can assure the government that today, a question will be filed for the attorney general to come and answer the circumstances leading to the judiciary in Eastern Region, the high court in Eastern Region colluding with the national security coordinator,” Afenyo-Markin stated.
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana
