EOCO’s handling of Baffour Awuah detention sets dangerous precedent – Oppong Nkrumah

Member of Parliament for Ofoase/Ayirebi, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah has warned that the handling of the case involving Manhyia South MP Nana Agyei Baffour Awuah sets a dangerous precedent for Ghana's democracy.

His comments follow Mr. Baffour Awuah's continued detention by the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO). The state agency had earlier attempted to arrest him at the Accra High Court on September 23 but it ended in a confrontation. EOCO later secured a High Court warrant authorising his arrest and the search and seizure of documents relevant to its investigation.

Mr. Baffour Awuah subsequently reported himself to EOCO on Thursday, October 1 and was placed under arrest as investigators continued their work. The agency says he is cooperating with investigators and that the probe concerns alleged criminal conspiracy, financial loss to SIC Savings and Loans, money laundering, tax-related offences and other matters resorting from his firm providing legal services to the company.

Mr Oppong Nkrumah argued that the issue should not be viewed solely as a dispute involving an NPP legislator, but as a broader question about how state institutions exercise their powers against citizens.

“It’s not about NPP people or about tomorrow an NDC lawyer or something, no. It’s a new precedent that is being set for our entire democracy. Let’s ask ourselves if this is how we want our democracy to be ruined,” Mr Oppong Nkrumah said in an interview with Joy News.

He questioned the decision to keep the legislator in custody for 48 hours, arguing that the existence of such a power does not mean it should automatically be exercised in a manner that punishes a suspect.

“This whole thing of I have power so I’m keeping him for 48 hours is irregular. It is a weaponisation of the power, using the power to punish people,” he said.

Mr Oppong Nkrumah maintained that if a person is willing to cooperate with an investigation, mechanisms such as release on self-recognisance or surety could be considered while the legal process continues.

He said the precedent being created should concern Ghanaians regardless of their political affiliation, particularly because the exercise of state powers against one person could eventually affect others.

“Let's ask ourselves whether this is how we want our democracy to be going and if we are comfortable with it, that’s fine. But what is going on is highly irregular. It is deliberately designed to show where power lies,” he said.