#FixTheCountry convener Oliver Barker-Vormawor, is “the cockroach”, who, according to former Special Prosecutor Martin Amidu, “made the mistake of making himself available in the den of ‘the fowls’ administering the system of criminal justice administration” and “received the justice cockroaches deserve before the executive branch of government run by ‘fowls’”.
Mr Barker-Vormawor has been held in detention for more than a month after he threatened a coup on social media in disgust to a widely-circulated customised cake a la E-Levy for Majority Leader Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu’s 65th birthday party.
He has been charged with treason felony and held in prison custody since February 11, 2022.
Attorney General Godfred Dame recently filed an affidavit in which he urged the court to keep the Cambridge PhD student in detention because, according to the Minister of Justice, the youth activist has refused to cooperate with the investigative agencies.
Mr Barker-Vormawor has rebutted the AG’s claim and insists he has been cooperative with the security services.
Condemning Mr Barker-Vormawor’s detention in an article, Mr Amidu, who has been an Attorney General before, said: “The government had knowingly and intentionally turned the administration of justice into an inquisitorial and prosecutorial system to intimidate and suppress the lawful political activity, personal liberty and right to equality before the law and non-discrimination of a citizen, Mr Barker-Vormawor, under articles 3, 14, 17, and 291 of the 1992 Constitution”.
“There is no constitutional rational justification for the conduct of the government in the manner it executed the persecution of the suspect as the executive branch has consistently sought to justify to the public”, Mr Amidu said.
He said: “The answer by the government to the public outcry and objection to the unlawful detention of Mr Barker-Vormawor for more than forty-eight hours was the lame justification that the Republic was unable to reach the Chief Justice to assign a judge or court during the weekend.
The excuse is lame and frivolous because if Mr Barker-Vormawor was in lawful custody for the offence of offensive conduct conducive to breaches of the peace with which he was charged upon his arrest and a statement taken from him in custody exercising his right to a lawyer of his choice, then the police did not need the Chief Justice or a court to exercise the discretion to grant him police enquiry bail to appear before them or a named court on a named date and time. On the other hand, if the government and the police had received further information and facts with which they had reasonable changed grounds for the continued arrest, restriction or detention of Mr Barker-Vormawor, without informing him of the changed reasons and his right to a lawyer of his choice, the contention that he was not brought before a court within forty-eight hours of his original arrest or detention because of lack of a court during the weekend is vacuous”.
“I have painstakingly read Osagyefo Oliver Barker-Vormawor’s two posts on his Facebook [page] on 9 February 2022 while he was in the United Kingdom within the context of other posts and reactions to the ostentatious, opulent, and profane “Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu’s E-Levy cake for his 65th birthday” celebration.
“It is my considered view that the two contradictory and ambiguous Facebook comments taken separately or together do not measure up to the basic ingredients of the provisional charge of the indictable offence of treason felony for which he was ‘cynically’ and surprisingly brought before an inferior court without powers of bail on 14 February 2022, and for which he is still in police custody on remand.
“The perception that the unconstitutional and unlawful arrest and detention of Barker-Vormawor was politically motivated and intended to suppress his lawful political activity has further polarised this country along ideological and partisan lines which is inimical to the unity and stability the Constitution enjoins each citizen to strive to preserve in our democracy”, Mr Amidu argued.
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