Minority Leader in Parliament, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, has criticised the handling of the arrest and detention of the NPP’s Ashanti Regional Chairman, Bernard Antwi Boasiako, popularly known as Chairman Wontumi.
Speaking to journalists outside the National Intelligence Bureau (NIB) headquarters in Accra on Friday, May 30, Mr Afenyo-Markin expressed deep concern about what he described as a politically motivated display of power by the ruling NDC government.
The Minority Leader said the opposition party had made arrangements to visit the detained chairman, but those plans were unexpectedly disrupted. “Well, all those arrangements were made and upon getting here, they now tell us a different story,” he said.
Mr Afenyo-Markin further raised concerns about the conditions surrounding Wontumi’s bail, describing them as worrying.
“I find it very worrying that in a country like Ghana, for enquiry bail, someone will demand 50 million cedis worth of properties before someone is granted enquiry bail,” he noted.
Directing his message to the governing NDC, he warned: “I am telling my friends in NDC one more time that they should check some of these things because posterity is watching them.”
He also alleged that the detention was being used to punish the NPP regional chairman.
“He is nowhere to be found. They claim they couldn’t bring him here, he is still in the custody of NIB in their Kawukudi office. They claim until EOCO authorises, we cannot even see him. You and I know that they are using the bail to punish him,” he said.
“We were all in there as the leadership of the party, and we didn’t just come here. We had a certain understanding that we will be here and at least see him,” he added.
Mr Afenyo-Markin described the situation as an abuse of power. “They are showing their wit, they are showing Wontumi where the power lies. They are showing power, so let them continue to show power. I will repeat, posterity is watching,” he said.
He continued by calling for a more reasonable and fair approach to political engagement.
“We are talking about democracy, and it is not about court, court, court. It is also about common sense and somebody being reasonable and thinking about tomorrow. I have said that posterity is watching. If something happened yesterday and it was wrong, and it happens today, it is wrong, if it happens tomorrow, it remains wrong.”
“At a point, as a political class, let us put an end to that era of ‘you do me, I do you’ if that is the case,” the Minority Leader added.
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