The Communications Officer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Sammy Gyamfi has described the IGP response to the British High Commissioner as disgusting.
The British High Commissioner, Harriet Thompson, on May 17 made a comment on Twitter after Oliver Barker Vormawor was arrested for a traffic offence.
“Oliver Barker Vormawor, convener of #FixTheCountry Movement, arrested again, I understand for a motoring offence on his way to court. I’ll be interested to see where this goes,” she said.
And in response to her tweet, a four-page document by the Ghana Police Service signed by the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Dr. George Akuffo Dampare was released, accusing the British High Commissioner of meddling in the internal affairs of the country and further instructing her to mind her own business.
“…we consider your tweet as a violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, 1961 which enjoins diplomatic missions not to interfere in the internal affairs of their host country,” he said and further recommended the Ghanaian saying, that goes ‘Di wo fie asem’ to wit learn to keep within the limits that concerns you,” to guide her in her diplomatic engagements.”
Expressing his displeasure, Sammy Gyamfi believes the response from the IGP was needless because it has the potential of undermining Ghana’s long-standing diplomatic relations with the UK.
“The arrogance and intolerance displayed by the IGP in his response to a harmless tweet by the British High Commissioner to Ghana is disgusting to say the least.
“His 20th May, 2022 letter, a copy of which is attached to this post, is in very bad taste and has the potential of undermining Ghana’s long-standing diplomatic relations with the UK”, Sammy Gyamfi said in a post.
The astute legal practitioner went ahead to say that, “there is absolutely nothing wrong with the tweet by the British High Commisisoner which is what appears to have angered our celebrity IGP. If Dampare had apprised himself of Article 3(d) of the Vienna Convention, I am not sure he would have embarrassed himself and the nation this way.
“No wonder that harassment, human rights abuse and extra-judicial killing of innocent Ghanaians by some rogue elements in the Ghana Police Service is on the ascendancy. IGP Dampare must know that the Police Service, like any other human institution, is not sacrosanct and not immune from criticism. The least expectation of a leader worth his salt is to focus on cleaning up the battered image of the Police and restoring public confidence in the Service. Defending wrong-doing while snapping at genuine criticism is not the new dawn of Policing that he promised us.”
