IGP’s regrettable, misguided letter to Harriet Thompson can jeopardise Ghana-Britain bilateral relations — NDC

The opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) has expressed concern over the strong-worded letter issued by the Ghana Police Service to the British High Commission indicating that it could stain bilateral relations between Ghana and Britain.

This is contained in a press release issued by the party on Tuesday, May 31, 2022, and signed by General Secretary Mr. Johnson Asiedu Nketia.

The British High Commissioner H.E Harriet Thompson in a Tweet earlier this month said, “Oliver Barker-Vormawor, convener of #FixTheCountry movement, arrested again, I understand [it’s] for a motoring offence [and he’s currently] on his way to court. I’ll be interested to see where this goes…”

With the Tweet not going down well with the Police administration, it sent a letter to the British High Commission, telling the Commissioner to leave her nose out of local matters.

“..we consider you tweet violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations 1961 which enjoins diplomatic missions not to interfere in the internal affairs of their host countries.

“Your Excellency, the fact that you use the ‘arrested again’ we believe must mean you were making reference to previous occasions Mr. Barker Vormwaor was arrested for threatening the security of the state and recently for motor traffic offences,” parts of the letter from the Ghana Police Service signed by IGP Dr. George Akuffo Dampare reads.

Describing the letter from the Police as regrettable and misguided, the NDC says it has the tendency to jeopardise the enviable cordial bilateral relations between Ghana and Britain.

“The NDC takes the considered view that Inspector-General of Police, Dr. George Akuffo Dampare should have raised his concerns about the British High Commissioner’s tweet on Oliver Barker-Vormawor’s latest arrest with Ghana’s Foreign Minister through the Minister of the Interior for it to be addressed via the usual diplomatic channels,” part of the NDC press release notes.

It added, “The IGP’s rather ill-advised attack on the British High Commissioner for being meddlesome in Ghana’s internal affairs appears rather far-fetched, particularly considering the significant fact that the activist of interest is a student in the UK and that matters of human rights are universal and cardinal.”

In its conclusion, the NDC says the IGP should rather focus his attention on the worsening security environment which has led to the gruesome loss of life of a lawyer, gold dealers in Asamang Tamfoe, and many other victims of unresolved police brutalities from the 2020 election killings to Ejura, Tamale, Akatsi, Asawase, and Nkoranza.

Below is a copy of the NDC press release: