Head of Legal team for the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Frank Davies, has described as illegitimate, the National Democratic Congress’ (NDC) petition to the Commonwealth Secretariat to probe alleged human rights abuses by the government.
The opposition NDC earlier today, petitioned the Commonwealth Secretariat over alleged human rights abuses against some of its leading members by the Akufo-Addo administration.
Speaking on Top Story, Monday, Mr. Davies said the accusations of harassment and persecution by the NDC against the government are baseless and inappropriate.
He noted that the NDC’s action berates the judicial system and their petition leaves much to be desired.
“If charges have been proffered in court and prosecution is being rolled, I wonder how anyone can complain of harassment and persecution. If you’ve fallen foul of the law, should you be taken to a fetish groove or a shrine or a cave in some forest? You obviously have to go to court and answer the charges.
“So if they are in court, they have the best of lawyers they should let the court system rule. Is the NDC trying to tell Ghanaians that when they were in power, they didn’t arraign NPP members before court? … So if the court system is working, the NDC is trying to say because they are NDC, they should not be arraigned before the court?” he quizzed.
Reacting to Frank Davies’ comment, the General Secretary of the NDC, Johnson Asiedu Nketiah insisted that the courts under the current government have been weaponised against citizens.
He stressed that the Akufo-Addo government has deviated from the tenets of good governance as espoused in the standards of the Commonwealth, of which Ghana is a member.
“I didn’t expect him to say anything different because it is the conduct of the government to which he belongs that we are referring to the Commonwealth Secretariat, so it would have been absurd for him to concur with us. The fact that he holds that opinion does not take anything from our petition,” he said.
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