No Ghanaian Arrested In Germany – NPP  

The Germany Branch of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) has denied publications in sections of the media that two Ghanaians 'without papers' have been arrested in Berlin.

The two were believed to be part of the group that took part in a demonstration against President Mahama during his recent visit to Germany on Tuesday.

The state-owned Daily Graphic, in its online edition of Thursday, January 22, was said to have reported that two Ghanaians 'without papers' were arrested and would be deported for taking part in the demonstration against President Mahama in Berlin.

The protestors, most of whom carried placards which read, 'Drop your annoying Mahama,' 'Drop that yam,' 'NDC: National Distributors of Cocaine,' 'Stop cocaine trade in Ghana,' 'No German loan for NDC,' 'NDC: National Defenders of Corruption,' 'Where is Ghana's oil money?' and 'Stop family and tribal politics,' expressed disappointment in the Mahama-led National Democratic Congress (NDC) administration.

The demonstration, organised by Concerned Ghanaians in Germany, was held in front of the Intercontinental Hotel in Berlin, where President Mahama was meeting other Ghanaians last Tuesday.

But Alhassan Yakubu Tali, Chairman of the NPP, Germany branch, in a statement issued on Friday, expressed utter disbelief in the publication, describing it as 'a shameless lie.'

He said concerned about the alleged development, NPP Germany took it upon itself to contact the Police authorities in Berlin who denied categorically that any of the protestors was arrested, let alone for being an illegal immigrant.

The NPP Germany Chairman said: 'We have also spoken personally with Berlin Police Inspector Hartman, who led the team of police assigned to guide the demonstrators on that day and he has also confirmed that no one was arrested.'

Yakubu Tali further stated, 'He, in fact, went on to point out that under German law, the police are not allowed to control people's immigration status at permitted demonstrations.'

The NPP chairman stated that the party had made contacts with the organisers of the demonstration and they had also confirmed that all those who took part in the demonstration were back to their various cities safely.

He noted that it was clear that President Mahama and his Flagstaff House propagandists were bent on using old-fashioned communist tactics to strike fear against Ghanaians abroad who want to speak out against the corruption and bad governance under his watch in this second term of the NDC's eight-year rule.

Yakubu Tali said it was a disgraceful act by a failing government that wants to take away the fundamental human rights of Ghanaians abroad to assemble and demonstrate peacefully against their visiting President.

'We believe the Ghana Embassy in Berlin and the Flagstaff House in Accra should come out to correct this false and negative international publicity with which it has tagged the German government,' it noted.

The statement continued: 'These are the kinds of reckless propaganda tactics that can cause a needless diplomatic row between our country, Ghana and Germany…It is way below the belt.'

Yakubu Tali, while advising the state-owned Daily Graphic to stop this embarrassment of being used as a propaganda tool of government, said the paper must retract the story and apologise to the public.

The NPP Germany Chairman noted that the NDC would not frighten Ghanaians both at home and abroad from expressing their views against the way their beloved country was being run down.

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 By: Jeffrey De-Graft Johnson