Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa has waded into the Serwaa Broni matter saying he “never imagined that these frightening allegations of gross human right violations, blatant abuse of office and conduct that brings the high office of President of Ghana into disrepute would ever be leveled against President Akufo-Addo”.
According to the Member of Parliament (NPP) for the North Tongu in the Volta region, as country that has witnessed the brutal murder of investigative journalist Ahmed Hussein-Suale, Ghana “cannot treat lightly any allegation that our National Security is used to stage robberies and that our Police CID is used to cover up such crimes”.
The MP in a Facebook post cited by The Herald lamented how “functioning democracies all over the world would have by now, at the very least, launched an enquiry into the robbery allegations against National Security and the audio recordings of a purported cover up by the police hierarchy.
He cried that “as Commander-in-Chief of the Ghana Armed Forces and Chair of the National Security Council, President Akufo-Addo cannot remain silent on these weighty matters which are at the heart of our constitutional democracy. He was not silent as an opposition politician and he definitely cannot be silent now”.
He disclosed that the NDC Parliamentary Caucus is seriously studying the Serwaa Broni tapes to inform them of their next course of action”.
Below is what Mr. Okudzeto Ablakwa stated today, Tuesday, April 19, 2022….
A country that has still not resolved the brutal assassination of investigative journalist Ahmed Hussein-Suale three years after their internationally acclaimed work — “Number 12” which was an Anas exposé that brought to the fore massive corruption by the high and mighty in association football, cannot treat lightly any allegation that our National Security is used to stage robberies and that our Police CID is used to cover up such crimes.
If these allegations are proven to be true then none of us who criticize the Akufo-Addo government or expose wrongdoing in the pursuit of our constitutional mandate either as MPs, journalists, CSOs or citizens engaging in whistleblowing are safe.
I recall the posturing of high human right standards of Nana Akufo-Addo and his parliamentary/NPP colleagues in the 1990s in leading demonstrations against the suspected disappearances of and attacks on women during the Rawlings presidency — particularly from 1998-2000; I also cannot forget Akufo-Addo’s determined public pursuit of justice when Ahunu Ahonga lost his life during the Kumepreko demonstration.
I never imagined that these frightening allegations of gross human right violations, blatant abuse of office and conduct that brings the high office of President of Ghana into disrepute would ever be leveled against President Akufo-Addo who rose to national prominence with a uniquely packaged brand of being a fearless defender of human rights.
As Commander-in-Chief of the Ghana Armed Forces and Chair of the National Security Council, President Akufo-Addo cannot remain silent on these weighty matters which are at the heart of our constitutional democracy. He was not silent as an opposition politician and he definitely cannot be silent now.
After the bloody Ayawaso West Wuogon by-election and the grisly killing of seven Ghanaians during the 2020 Presidential and Parliamentary elections by bloodthirsty hoodlums claiming to be National Security operatives (a matter I am doggedly and vigorously pursuing at CHRAJ); we must not accept a rogue national security architecture that terrorizes and kills us instead of existing to protect the people who pay them.
Functioning democracies all over the world would have by now, at the very least, launched an enquiry into the robbery allegations against National Security and the audio recordings of a purported cover up by the police hierarchy.
I am therefore glad to belong to the NDC Parliamentary Caucus which is seriously studying the Serwaa Broni tapes to inform our next course of action.
It is not acceptable for Ghanaian politicians to have different standards in opposition and in power; most importantly, we must at all times uphold the sanctity of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana.
