Letter to IGP: The fowl that hatch the chicken call ‘Order From above’

Ghana Police Service, Ghana Armed Forces, and the entire citizenry must have the wherewithal and the will to tell Mr. Akuffo-Addo that Kwame Nkrumah’s Ghana is not for him. Ghana is on the brink of self-destruction, the greatest effect being Akufu-Addo, the democratically elected president of Ghana from 2016 to 2020, and Justice Anin-Yeboah and Jean Mensah’s self-imposed leader from 2020 to 2024.

There is no provision known as order from above in Ghana’s constitution and the imperative need for the police to tread cautiously must not be shelved. The arrest of Naa Koryoo, the NDC parliamentary candidate for Awutu Senya East under the “order from above” is a far cry from civility.

Nana Akufo-Addo started controlling and taming members of his New Patriotic Party (NPP) from the opposition and has nurtured a warped impression that he can willy-nilly control the entire country even from the opposition. If Akufu-Addo tries anything sinister in 2024 with Jean Mensah, he will run away in his boxer shorts. Ghana is not for politicians and police must protect the citizens not those in power.

I read the press release of the peace council about the political parties being circumspect. Dear peace council, the circumspection must start with intransigent Akufu-Addo who is packing the Electoral Commission with NPP stalwarts and aficionados. At the height of the American Civil War in March 1861, President Lincoln had this to say. “in your hands, my dissatisfied fellow-countrymen, and not in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war. The Government will not assail you. You can have no conflict without your being the aggressors. You have no oath registered in heaven to destroy the government, while I shall have the most solemn one to “preserve, protect, and defend it.” The Council of State and the Peace Council are not helping Mr. Akufu-Addo.

Ghana police and the army must perform their constitutional duties rather than kowtowing to the whims and caprices of the people within the corridors of power. King Henry VIII of England was regarded as a mad king in 1536 after he fell from his horse at a joust. It partly made him develop psychologically maladaptive behaviors. Akufu-Addo at age 80 is likely to suffer psychological decompensation and the security agencies must not follow his unconstitutional orders.

Ghana police must stop the arbitrary and loutish arrest of Ghanaians under the so-called “order from above.” The fundamental human rights of Ghanaians with its concomitant Puritan egalitarian ideals must be respected. The police must arrest those who murdered innocent citizens at Techiman South rather than being used by Politicians to terrorize Ghanaians.. God bless our homeland Ghana. We can conceive of a future without high-rises. But a humanity without music and love is not just inconceivable; it is impossible. — George Leonard.

By Nana Yaw Osei, Ph. D, Minnesota. The incoming press secretary to the next President John Mahama.