Dampare's diplomatic gaffe can cost Ghana loans, grants – Expert

Governance and international relations expert, Prof Kwame Agyeinim Boateng of the Faculty of Law, Governance and International Relations at Kings University College, has chastised the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Dr George Akuffo Dampare, for his strong-worded letter to British High Commissioner to Ghana, Harriet Thompson, over her tweet on social media in relation to the arrest of #FixTheCountry movement convener Oliver Barker-Vormawor.

He said the IGP has no locus in the circles of diplomacy to write to the High Commissioner.

In his view, the IGP’s long letter to the envoy has rather blown the matter out of proportion, pointing out that it has now become a topic being discussed on the BBC among other international media platforms.

Prof Boateng told Odehyeeba Kofi Essuman, sit-in host of Accra100.5M’s morning show, Ghana Yensom, on Wednesday, June 1, 2022, that this was a matter that could have been best handled through the backdoor.

He said Ghana, as a nation, could have gone further by reporting the conduct of the envoy to the UK government if the country felt peeved by the High Commissioner’s behaviour instead of resorting to such a letter by the police chief who has nothing to do with diplomacy.

“I have not seen this before in the diplomatic circles as an international relations practitioner”, he said.

Prof Boateng explained that per the United Nations perspective, issues of human rights are everybody's concern, adding that it is in line with this that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo tweeted about the inhumane death of George Floyd in the United States of America.

He warned that other diplomats in the country are watching the treatment meted out to UK High Commissioner and that if care was not taken, it can lead to the blocking of some grants and loans by Ghana’s development partners.

Source: Classfmonline.com