8 APPEAL TO IGP TO PROBE DETENTION (PAGE 14, DECEMBER 30)

EIGHT members of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) who were detained at Akwatia in December last year during the general election have appealed to the Inspector-General of Police to investigate the circumstances which led to their detention.
They also called on the Chief Justice to ensure that those responsible for their arrest were brought to justice, and that their names should be cleared of any illegal act.
The group, made up of Mr Michael Kwashie, Akwatia Constituency Deputy Organiser, David Dakuti, Issa Suleiman, Issaku Abubakr, Majid Mohamed, Kwabena Asare and Sadick Mohamed, said they were first charged with causing harm which was later on substituted with robbery.
At a press conference at Akwatia, the Akwatia Constituency Secretary of the NDC, Mr Kwabena Ofori Abrokwa, who spoke on their behalf, said the eight who were arrested at dawn on December 16, 2008 were detained at Akyem Oda for causing harm.
He said they were first granted bail and made to report daily to the police, which they complied with, but were re-arrested on Christmas Day, and hurriedly arraigned before the Akyem Swedru Circuit Court the following day, a statutory holiday and remanded in custody charged with robbery.
According to the spokesperson, what beat their imagination was the withdrawal of the initial charge of causing harm and substituting it with robbery without naming the actual item or items which they had stolen.
According to Mr Abrokwa, if the robbery charge was in connection of the stolen ballot papers at Akwatia during the elections, then the best thing the police should have done was to arrest Mr Frank Ennin, a member of the then Akwatia Constituency (NPP) executive in whose house was found some ballot boxes.
Mr Abrokwa also wondered why the police did not invite the NPP members associated with the crime, whose names the police requested from the NDC.
He said the eight persons did not commit any crime to be dealt with in such an inhumane manner, adding that they and their spouses, some of whom gave birth during the period of their incarceration, had suffered serious physical and mental torture.
Mr Abrokwa, therefore, called on the IGP and the Chief Justice to go into the matter to ensure that justice took its course.
The Deputy Eastern Regional Minister, Baba Jamal Muhamed Ahmed, who was the NDC parliamentary candidate for Akwatia during the elections, said it was sad that the previous NPP Administration subjected the innocent young men to such treatment.
“All we want is for the IGP and the Chief Justice to correct the wrongs of the past and clear the victims from any wrongdoing”, Baba Jamal, who was seated among the group, stated.
Earlier on Christmas Day, members of the NDC and other sympathisers of the victims had organised a candlelight procession through some of the principal streets of Akwatia in memory of the event.
According to the sympathisers, they would continue with such a procession every Christmas Day until all those behind the arrest of the victims had been dealt with.