Member of Parliament for Tamale Central Inusah Fuseini has criticized the police for the manner in which it handled Deputy General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress over his coup d’état comment.
He said Koku Anyidoho’s comment as far as he is concerned, is an excessive exercise of his right to freedom of speech and the state could have handled it more appropriately than it did.
Speaking on Joy News’ news analysis programme, Newsfile, the former minister said “If the state is of the view that his comment was potentially treasonable, what they needed to do was not to arrest him but to activate the intelligence gathering system to see what activity Koku could have been engaged that is likely to subvert the constitution, not arrest him.
“Arresting him is a callous exercise of state authority,” he said.
NDC General Secretary (in smock) walked the entire 600 metres to the CID Headquarters with Koku the day he was arrested
Mr Anyidoho was arrested and charged with treason and causing panic after he threatened a civilian overthrow of the Akufo-Addo administration.
After spending some two nights in the custody of the Bureau of National Investigation (BNI), the NDC scribe was released on bail and is set to return to the Police CID in the coming days.
But some members of the NDC are unhappy with the manner in which Mr Anyidoho was accosted by the police during a press conference and subsequently detained.
Mr Anyidoho in the company of his lawyer and South Dayi MP, Rockson Dafeamepkor after his release
Related: “At least Ghana is working” – Anyidoho thanks 'professional' CID,BNI
Like many others, Mr Fuseini believes the comments the Deputy General Secretary made was distasteful but was quick to add that the police should have known that it was mere talk. There was no juice to it
“It was totally unnecessary…the personal idiosyncrasies of Koku led him to make those comments but does it mean he has the capacity to do what he said he will do?
“We frown upon the making of those statements in a democratic country like ours but I know that the president and the executive and the police did not believe that Koku had the capacity to overthrow this government,” he added.
Some supporters of the NDC thronged the CID Headquarters demanding the release of Mr Anyidoho the day he was arrested
In his view, the state only pursued Mr Anyidoho because of the enormous power it holds and has been capricious in the use of that power.
According to him, Koku’s comment is not one that even requires an investigation or a charge.
“If the state had apprehensions that probably what Koku is saying might have some elements of truth which ought to be investigated, the way they went about it is obviously not a way to investigate a potentially treasonable or subversive statement.”
Mr Fuseini said the NDC will fight anyone who attempts to overthrow or destabilise the democratic dispensation because it does not want to create the opportunity for any government to blame its failure at governance to a situation like an overthrow.
“We are committed to ensuring that anybody who attempts to disturb the political establishment will be fought with the last of our breath,” he stressed.
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