<<Print>>

Two leaders of the demonstrating National Democratic Congress (NDC) members who besieged the Kokomlemle headquarters of the ruling party on Tuesday, calling for the removal of Lt. Col. Larry Gbevlo Lartey (rtd) as head of the National Security, were yesterday arrested by the police in Accra. Barely 24hours after the event, Hajias Sherifatu Sulley and Fati Alhassan received a call from the Accra Regional Police Commander, Rose Bio Atinga inviting them to her office where they were made to write their statements and later granted bail. The group had presented a petition to the leadership of the party, calling for the head of Gbevlo-Lartey. They claimed that �as a National Security Coordinator, Gbevlo-Lartey has not only succeeded in bringing disunity and hopelessness to the core of the party by his actions and inactions but has also used the national security to engage party functionaries in distractive battles.� The group also noted the National Security Coordinator was doing everything in his power to ensure that his son, Nestor Gbevlo-Lartey, becomes the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Hohoe North constituency on the ticket of the NDC. ASP Cyprian Zenge of the Public Affairs Unit of the Regional Police command told DAILY GUIDE yesterday the group and its leadership breached the Public Order Act (419) of 1994 since they failed to notify the police of their intended action, the reason for which they were invited and questioned. Indications are that the two have not been charged since investigations are still ongoing. The two were later granted self-recognisance bail as investigations continue. Sherifatu narrated that upon reaching the regional command, they were handed to an officer at the regional crime office who took them through a rigorous interrogation process, after which he took a statement from them. Hajia Sherifatu and her members, who identified themselves as �concerned members of the NDC�, said they were unfazed about the efforts to cow them into fear and that they would continue to express themselves about anything concerning the party as and when the need arose. �One thing I want to assure them is that this can never put us off. When we see anything, we will take the right steps and say it as it is. It won�t put our morale down so far as we have all said we love the party,� she said. They however insisted they did not go to the NDC headquarters to embark on a demonstration but to present a petition and saw nothing wrong with their action. �Everything was on the premises of our national headquarters but not the streets of Accra,� Sherifatu told Daily Guide. Sherifatu, the spokesperson of the group, expressed surprise at the turn of events since, according to her, when the Accra Regional Commander called her in the morning, she told her �she is going to make sure that she would prosecute us because we have embarked on a demonstration on the streets of Accra�. She said, �I am only watching and waiting for whatever they want to do to me because we are in Ghana and nobody is above the law and she has made me understand that she is doing her work.� Hajia Sherifatu denied claims by the National Security Coordinator that they were being manipulated and used by someone to dent his image. Lt. Col. Gbevlo Lartey yesterday told Joy FM the protest was orchestrated by �one man; somebody who thinks that he is the richest person in this country; somebody who thinks that he looks after everybody; somebody who thinks that everybody should kneel down before him; not me Larry�. He asked those who thought it was wrong for his son, Nestor Gbevlo Lartey, to aspire to be MP to stop him and stop wasting everybody�s time since it was not his place to decide for his son what to do with his life as he was an adult.