The spokesperson for the family of the 13 arrested Mamprusis Dr. Razak Bawumia Wuni has raised an alarm over what he described as obvious persecution and violation of the fundamental human rights of their kinsmen.
According to rejoinder issued by Dr. Bawumia Wuni, the family of the arrested persons wishes to state categorically that today is the 5th day since the individuals were arrested but neither they or their lawyers have been officially informed the charges upon which their kinsmen were arrested and detained.
Below is the family statement:
Re: Bawku clash: Police arrest 13 for violating court injunction and curfew
Our attention has been drawn to the above news report filed by one Illiasu Tanko and published on Joy News’ online portal on January 3, 2022. The report further cites an unknown senior official of the CID as saying “The court in Bawku had placed an injunction on the performance of the funeral. The injunction was accepted by them [the Mamprusis]. It was signed by Dr Bugri on behalf of the regent only for them to turn around to disregard the court ruling. We found that unacceptable, and that’s why we decided to enforce the law”.
We the family of the arrested persons find these remarks by the unknown CID senior officer preposterous and an indictment on the rule of rule. In this regard, we wish to make the following observations:
1. It is absolutely shocking that the police CID claims they “decided to enforce the law” when in actual fact all their actions violate the rule of law. We the family of the arrested persons wish to state categorically that today is the 5th day since they were arrested but neither we nor our lawyers have been officially told the charges upon which our kinsmen were arrested and detained. Indeed, we are scandalized to learn the reason for their arrest from a media publication. Is this the CID’s way of “enforcing the law”?
2. If Indeed the Police CID have such evidence against our Kinsmen, why then have they not hurriedly arraigned them before a court of competent jurisdiction. Today is the 5th day of their arrest and Ghanaians should know that our arrested kinsmen have not been arraigned before a court of competent jurisdiction. This is in direct contravention of the constitutional provision which mandates suspects to be arraigned before court within 48 hours. We ask again, is this how the law is “enforced” by the CID? Furthermore, this violation by the police is very troubling because they refused to produce the suspects in court after lawyers filed a bail application.
3. We, the family of the arrested, are much more worried at this obvious persecution and violation of the fundamental human rights of our kinsmen because, we have seen how Ghanaians who have been arrested and charged even with treasonable offences are guaranteed their rights and arraigned before court. Why then does the police treat our kinsmen in such a horrible manner under the pretext of “enforcing the law”?
4. We wish to categorically state that the so-called error riddled injunction made in reference by the Police CID was an exparte given on 29th November, 2021. This exparte expired after the 10th day. However, the funeral rites were performed on 26th December, 2021. That is over 26 clear days after the expiration of the error riddled ex-parte injunction. In any case, if the police claim they have a case why then do they not arraign them before court rather than violating the fundamental human rights of our kinsmen?
We wish to conclude by urging Ghanaians and the media to condemn in no uncertain terms the violation of the fundamental human rights of these noble Ghanaians under the pretext of “enforcing the law”. Today it is our family members and tomorrow it could be anyone else’s.
Some of the arrested people like Dr. Sam Bugri are patriotic Ghanaians who have served their country faithfully. He was the Director of Public Health and led Ghana to eliminate serious public health challenges like Guinea worm, etc. So even if the state cannot do him any honours, they should not violate his fundamental human rights. This is also same for the elders of the Nayiri. The Nayiri has always been at the forefront helping Government solve critical ethnic conflicts across Ghana and his wise counsel is often sought from Government. Thus, the least show of respect for him is to treat his arrested elders according to the rule of law and not the violation of their fundamental human rights.
Thank you
SIGNED
Dr. Razak Bawumia Wuni
(0244597115)
Spokesperson
Apexnewsgh.com/Ghana
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