Agogo MP to petition speaker over DCOP Kofi Boakye's Threats

The Member of Parliament (MP) for Asante Akyem North in the Ashanti Region, Hon Kwadwo Baah Agyeman has told Oman News that he will petition the Speaker of Parliament to invite the Ashanti Regional Police Commander DCOP Nathan Kofi Boakye to parliament for questioning for threatening him with an arrest on the telephone.

According to the MP, article 122 of the 1992 constitution states that “An act or omission which obstructs or impedes Parliament in the performance of its functions or which obstructs or impedes a member or officer of Parliament in the discharge of his duties, or affronts the dignity of Parliament or which tends either directly or indirectly to produce that result, is contempt of Parliament.”

Hon. Kwadwo Agyeman stated that he had expected DCOP Kofi Boakye who is a lawyer to be abreast with this provision which prohibits a police officer from arbitrary arresting a Member of Parliament.

He noted that the constitution clearly states the procedure which has to be followed before a Member of Parliament can be arrested, and expressed surprise over the conduct of DCOP Kofi Boakye.

Narrating what transpired on the telephone to Oman News, Hon. Kwadwo Agyeman said, “he (DCOP Kofi Boakye) called me on phone and said I am looking for you and I will arrest you, Is that how you arrest a Member of Parliament? he quizzed

According to Hon. Kwadwo Agyeman, Parliamentarians are not ordinary people that police can just get up and arrest and that he is not a child to be threatened with an arrest on phone as DCOP Kofi Boakye did.

“Have the police been able to arrest the Fulani’s who are killing our people and you say you will arrest me? he asked.

There have been dangerous clashes in Agogo, in Ashanti Akyem North which led to the shooting of a Fulani man and the near lynching of another Fulani native on Wednesday and Thursday respectively.

Tension was said to be high, which eventually led to the clash after the NDP’s Director of Operation Ernest Owusu Bempah and Hon. Kwadwo Agyeman spoke at a press conference on Wednesday during which they purportedly declared war on the Fulani people.

The Ashanti Regional Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Mohammed Yussif Tanko told Oman News that the police believed that the clashes were sparked by the inciting remarks of the two men.

He said the police were therefore on the heels of Messers Agyeman and Bempah to explain why they openly charged the people of Agogo to attack the Fulani’s, which he claimed had created security problems in the area.

The police PRO announced that a joint police/military team would be dispatched to Agogo and the surrounding areas soon to help reduce the tension in the communities.

Meanwhile, a man believed to be a Fulani was shot and wounded during a gun battle at Asante Akyem Agogo on Wednesday evening, the police have announced.

The fierce gun battle between some Konkombas and Fulani’s was so serious that it also resulted in the killing of cattle numbering about five.

Meanwhile, the Regional Security Council (REGSEC) is investigating whether the MP’s purported statement had a link with the gun battle which led to the death of the Fulani.

DCOP Kofi Boakye, the Ashanti Regional Police Commander, has said that the police would not hesitate to apprehend anybody that would create security problems in the region, irrespective of the person’s social status.

Addressing the media, he admitted to the countless atrocities and infractions by the Fulani herdsmen, but said several arrests have also been effected by the police in connection with those atrocities committed by the Fulani herdsmen.

Story by Michael Creg Afful

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