Arrest NDC thugs in two days else! –Tano South NPP to police commander

The party took exception to the commander’s behavior saying “We find it quite perplexing that this police commander swiftly acts when cases are reported against perceived members of the New Patriotic Party but exhibits a lukewarm attitude when people from the other side are cited for wrongdoing.”

“We give Superintendent Abraham Bansah two days to arrest and prosecute all those who committed crimes against our party members. He should stop telling us Kweku Ananse stories and start acting now. All those pending cases must go to court with immediate effect lest we take steps to arrest the culprits ourselves,” the party charged.

Below is the full statement

A PREJUDICED POLICE FORCE IS INIMICAL TO OUR FLEDGING DEMOCRACY!

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen of the press. It is indeed gratifying to note that you have trekked from far and near to attend this event even at such a short notice. We are extremely grateful for your continuous support in these efforts to build a better Ghana.

Zeroing in on the gravamen of this all-important press conference, we are here to express our intense displeasure over the kind of injustices suffered in the hands of the Police Command in Tano South, grievances which have maturated and must be told the world in no uncertain terms.

Tano South district has been involved in tumultuous upheavals over the past year, but sadly enough, the security forces with the sole responsibility of ensuring that justice prevailed, has woefully failed to live up to expectations.

Streams of dastardly events happened in this constituency during the limited registration exercise. Doctors and a team of other professionals who were coming to help us campaign in the early part of last year were kidnapped by the then MP and her thugs. Not only were these people beaten mercilessly, but they were also stripped naked and their phones and tablets confiscated by Hannah Bissiw and her hired assassins. After that gruesome ordeal, the victims were handed over to the police hierarchy, with the then district commander Emmanuel Baah, who took the statements of these severely whipped ladies and gentlemen.

A few days later, Hannah Louisa Bissiw, the former MP for Tano South, led some machete wielding thugs to Derma Methodist JHS polling station and poured their venom on them. The deputy Constituency Secretary, Sulemana Rashid, Collins Offinam Takyi, Kojo Awuah and a few others sustained severe injuries, leaving indelible marks on their bodies. A facade of arrests were made but to our surprise, none of them was arraigned before any court of competent jurisdiction. When we asked for further details of the cases, we were told, disappointingly, that the docket had been sent to the Attorney General's office, and as we interact, the docket is still not here.

For reasons inexplicable to us, Superintendent Emmanuel Baah was transferred from here to another location, and his replacement was no other person than Superintendent Abraham Bansah.

Ladies and gentlemen, if members of this party believed, even remotely, that the departure of Superintendent Emmanuel Baah was an end to our woes, then we were living in a dream world! I must state here that our plights got compounded when Superintendent Abraham Bansah came here, and all attempts to normalize the situation have proven futile.

The night after the 2016 elections, a Nissan Navara pickup which carried some party members from Derma to Bechem was brutally attacked in front of Hannah Louisa Bissiw's house by her machomen. Some of the guys sustained more than wounds! In fact, they were butchered, but for the intervention of God, they would have died from that predicament. One of the vehicles we used in the campaign, a Land Rover Discovery, which was following the Nissan Navara pickup was overturned by Hannah Bissiw's thugs, and the windows completely destroyed. As law abiding citizens, the victims lodged complaints to the police.

Ladies and gentlemen, it would interest you to learn that over a month now, no one has been arrested! Meanwhile names of the culprits were given to the police. The culprits were Enoch Nsiah, Hannah Bissiw's driver, Sulley, the Constituency vice chairman of the NDC, Usman(Red), Alhassan(Derma), Sally (Derma) and a few others. Superintendent Abraham Bansah contends that the victims should lead the police in identifying the culprits, else there wouldn't be any arrests. We find this scenario very strange. What it means is that in the likely event that the victims had died, we would have had to beg Jesus Christ to resurrect them so that they could identify their 'killers', and after that, they would go back to their death! What type of law is this? In all these, we have remained calm and law abiding, but it does appear that our silence is being misinterpreted to mean a semblance of timidity.

Another negative "milestone" which has tainted the professionalism of the Tano South district police commander is the manner in which he acted on an incident that happened in Techimantia. One Jones Nimo whose wife, Alice Amankwaa was heavily pregnant was swiftly arrested and arraigned before court simply because some NDC guys had entered his house to campaign and the wife told them they were apolitical so they should leave. This seemed to have angered the NDC guys, so one of them pounced on the pregnant wife, and when the husband came out of his room, naturally, he was moved to beat the guy. Hannah Bissiw told her guy to report the matter to the police and the husband and wife were arrested. The husband, ladies and gentlemen, was kept in the police cell for a night, and was arraigned before the court the following morning. He was granted bail, but his next appearance saw him incarcerated into two weeks remand simply because Hannah Bissiw, Eric Opoku, the then regional minister and Zachary Anaba, the outgone DCE for Tano South were present in the court room. It took us more than strenuous efforts to get him out of prison.

Mention must also be made of another weird case that happened. One Atta, a driver of Derma Area Rural Bank, was arrested upon some mysterious circumstances and remanded for a whopping two weeks at Sunyani simply because he had picked First Vice Chairman Kofi Asare who had in his possession some flyers which were deemed to contain negative stories about Hannah Bissiw, and this, ladies and gentlemen, was enough to send Atta to prison!

Let's come to the latest issue that has assumed national headlines. Our Constituency first vice chairman, Kofi Asare, a few days ago, made an announcement on an information centre to inform people operating the various toilet facilities to 'abandon' their facilities since their tenure of office had come to an end with the defeat of their party, the NDC.

It must be emphasized here that that has always been the convention in the town, that as soon as a government loses power, not a day would pass for the facility to be whisked away. In 2009, one Yaw Krah who manned the toilet facility under contention was barbarically beaten by the family members of Mr.Kwame Ofori, the current occupant of the facility. He never fully recovered till his death.

First Vice Chairman Kofi Asare succeeded in taking the facility away from them. There were no hitches, no scuffles. The only point of disagreement was the shed in which papers are issued out to people attending to nature's call. This would send him to the police station to lodge a complaint, and it was there that he met Superintendent Abraham Bansah who believed his actions were unlawful. This would coerce Chairman Alex to remind him of the numerous cases of atrocities meted out to us without the police taking any action. Words were exchanged in the process.

Another point worth noting is the fact that one Akosua Donkor who happens to be the niece of Mr.Kwame Ofori resumed her penchant for insulting Alex simply because they are diametrically opposed to each other politically. Mention must also be made of the fact that this lady has made it her hobby to insult people who belong to the NPP.

As she persisted in this shameful agenda, she headed towards her house, about 700 metres away from the toilet facility. She also has her house behind the wife of First Vice Chairman Kofi Asare, Achiaa Vida. As she continued insulting Kofi Asare, Achiaa, heard it, went out, confronted Akosua Donkor, and it escalated into a fight, leaving Donkor badly wounded. Shockingly, First Vice Chairman Kofi Asare was arrested around 2 o'clock dawn, Superintendent Abraham Bansah pocketed the cells keys, went home with it, switched off his phones until people were sent to his house later that morning and Kofi Asare was granted bail at 10 o'clock the same morning. Is this not strange?

Ladies and gentlemen, is this account not different from that of the police?

Has there been a forcibly takeover of any toilet facility here?

Not even a blow was thrown as far as the 'seizure' of that toilet was concerned. What formed the basis for First Vice Chairman Kofi Asare's arrest?

What were his crimes?

Can one honestly say that First Vice Chairman Kofi Asare and his 'gang' brutalized people to warrant being arraigned before the law courts?

We find it quite perplexing that this police commander swiftly acts when cases are reported against perceived members of the New Patriotic Party but exhibits a lukewarm attitude when people from the other side are cited for wrongdoing!

Superintendent Abraham Bansah is a pale shadow of the huge responsibilities entrusted to him! He should better showcase his neutrality and stop pandering to the dictates of a non-existent regime!

We give Superintendent Abraham Bansah two days to arrest and prosecute all those who committed crimes against our party members! He should stop telling us Kweku Ananse stories and start acting now! All those pending cases must go to court with immediate effect lest we take steps to arrest the culprits ourselves!

It is a travesty of justice for Superintendent Abraham Bansah to swiftly jump into action when cases are reported against perceived members of the NPP but treats cases reported against NDC with disdain! This is not what we expect from a police officer who is neutral! Thank you!

Signed

P.K.Sarpong, Const. Sec., Tano South.

Michael Opoku Buabeng, Const. Chairman.

Kwabena Agyei, Const. Organizer

Twum Abass Prince, Const. Youth organizer

Fred Fosu Adutwum, Financial Sec.

The New Patriotic Party in the Tano South Constituency in the Brong Ahafo Region have issued two days ultimatum to the Tano South District Police Commander Superintendent Abraham Bansah to arrest and prosecute all those who committed crimes against NPP members or face their wrath.

Addressing a press conference on, Wednesday, the party noted that anytime there was a case against supporters of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) the police commander would not act on it but said if it is against New Patriotic Party members he would get them arrested and prosecuted.