Wontumi’s arrest: Leaving Parliament to go and sit down on the floor at EOCO needless drama – UG Law lecturer
A law lecturer at the University of Ghana, Prof. Kwadwo Appiagyei-Atua, has taken a strong stance against the Minority in Parliament over what he described as a politically charged and unnecessary protest regarding the detention of Bernard Antwi Boasiako, popularly known as Chairman Wontumi.
Chairman Wontumi, the Ashanti Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), was arrested on May 27 by the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) following an earlier arrest by the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service. Though bail was granted the following day to the tune of GHC50 million with two justified sureties, his release has been delayed due to a pending High Court application seeking a review of the bail conditions.
In response to the continued detention, Minority MPs staged a dramatic walkout from Parliament on May 29 and marched to EOCO headquarters, where they staged a sit-down protest. They argued that given Chairman Wontumi’s public stature and low flight risk, he should have been granted bail on self-recognizance.
But Prof. Appiagyei-Atua, speaking on The Big Issue on Channel One TV with Selorm Adonoo on May 31, sharply criticized the protest.
“One would have expected that the NPP team would have followed the due process, and that is why I fault the steps they took—leaving Parliament to go and sit down on the floor at EOCO,” he said. “I think it was needless, just to create some drama and attention, which in the end could have led to lawlessness. Indeed, some lawlessness occurred, considering that a journalist was assaulted. The whole thing was overdramatised,” he asserted.
He also questioned the professional conduct of some of the MPs involved in the protest, particularly those with legal backgrounds.
“Some of these MPs are lawyers, they know the rules, and I don’t know why this time they decided to choose this route, which creates the perception that they want to politicise the situation,” he criticised.