Police Fight NPP

The relationship between the Ghana Police Service Administration and leadership of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) appears to be freezing as the two continue to trade accusations over the recent bloody fracas at the Agbogbloshie market leading to the death of four supporters of the NPP.

While the Police Administration always stops short of mentioning the name of the party in their statements, preferring innuendoes in their subtle attacks, the NPP on the other hand are blunt and direct.

The latest such clashes occurred when a team of 40 parliamentarians from the NPP took a trip to the Police Hospital to visit the hospitalized victims of the recent mayhem at the Agbogbloshie Market last Tuesday.

An angry Police Administration fired a statement through the Public Affairs Directorate of the service signed by DSP Kwesi Ofori to express dismay at the manner in which the visit was undertaken.

“It is the wish of the Police Administration that this matter will not be politicized,” DSP Ofori said.

According to the statement, the MPs did not exhaust the laid-down procedure for group visits to the facility, pointing out that their presence there caused commotion at the wards.

Such visits, the statement maintained, must be preceded by an application to that effect followed by an approval before they can be undertaken.

Characteristic of reactions from the internal security organization concerning the NPP, the administration subtly queried the MPs for not going through laid-down procedure but rather going ahead to visit the hospital.

However, Dominic Nitiwul, MP for Bimbilla in the Northern region who was part of the team that undertook the trip, debunked the Police reaction explaining that there was nothing untoward about how he and his colleagues went about the visit.

According to him, as a group, they were taken round by an administrator of the facility after they received a green light from the police administration, an explanation which leaves the Police reaction unable to stand on its feet.

DAILY GUIDE sources said the MPs through Dr Kofi Asare, the newly crowned MP for Akwatia, contacted the hospital management, who in turned sought clearance from the Police Administration to enable the parliamentarians to undertake the visit.

According to sources, DSP Kwesi Ofori, Police Director of Public Affairs, who incidentally signed the statement, conveyed the ‘go ahead’ message to the MPs after waiting for over 45 minutes.

Meanwhile, DAILY GUIDE has learnt that contrary to earlier information that two suspects have been arrested over the Agbogbloshie massacre, no single soul was apprehended, even though seven people have been identified.

The NPP has in a reaction to the Police handling of the mayhem expressed disappointment in the manner the security agents managed the ensuing situation- part of the proceeding freezing of relations between the two establishments.

The party leadership has for instance asked questions about what happened to those who were arrested in a previous commotion at the market, by so doing, putting the integrity of the Police on the line.

In the recent Akwatia re-run election, following the breakdown of law and order in the early hours of the exercise, the NPP leaders in different forums detailed what for them were the partial policing by the security agency.

The newly inducted MP, Dr. Kofi Asare, not trusting the Police to deal decisively with the suspects arrested during the confusion which greeted the run-up, said he would personally go to the IGP to find out how far the case has gone.

He noted that he and others personally arrested the suspects and handed them over to the Police and therefore he expected these persons to be arraigned.

His position was underpinned by many reports about the order for release of suspects by some powerful political office holders.

When an NPP supporter, one of those who joined his colleagues to storm the BNI office near the military hospital when Stephen Asamoah-Boateng was being held there, died a few weeks ago, the Greater Accra Regional Police Commander, Ms. Rose Atenga Bio and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) General Secretary, Nana Ohene Ntow clashed.

They were literally at each other’s throats over the true picture of what happened.

With the Police getting involved in more duties with political undertones, there is no end in sight for the plummeting relationship between them and the largest opposition grouping in the country.

Read the inside story of the big cover up of the Agbogbloshie scandal on Monday.

Source: Daily Guide