Hundreds of New Patriotic Party (NPP) supporters ‘invaded’ the premises of the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) in Accra on Monday, following the arrest of Mr Dennis Miracles Aboagye. The latter, who is one of the Dr Mahamudu Bawumia’s Spokespersons, was returning from abroad when he was picked up at the airport allegedly by Immigration officials and handed over to EOCO.
EOCO later issued a press statement informing the general public that it had arrested Mr Dennis Aboagye, former Executive Secretary of the Inter-Ministerial Coordinating Committee on Decentralisation (IMCCoD), in connection with ongoing investigations into alleged financial and procurement-related irregularities at the Secretariat.
According to the statement, the arrest follows extensive investigations commenced by EOCO after receiving a petition from the current Executive Secretary of IMCCoD, requesting further investigations into a forensic audit conducted into the affairs of the Secretariat, covering the period from August 1, 2022 to February 2, 2025.
Conspiracy to steal and stealing, using public office for profit, causing financial loss to the State, dissipation of public funds, defrauding by false pretences, money laundering and other suspected offences are the allegations being made against Mr Aboagye.
EOCO also alleged in the same press statement that Mr Aboagye was placed on the ‘Stop Order’ a week ago to prevent any sudden travel that could impede the investigation, but unknown to the Office, he (Aboagye) had already departed the country. This, according to the statement, was the reason why he was arrested at the airport.
EOCO was established under the relevant Ghanaian laws to fight against economic crime. The Chronicle is, therefore, not challenging its powers to arrest Mr Aboagye. We are, however, concerned about the method(s) being adopted by the economic crime fighter in its operations. Per the narrative of Mr Miracles Aboagye, though he was once invited by EOCO, he was never told not to travel out of the jurisdiction.
If this claim being made by the suspect is true, it means he can not be blamed for traveling out of the jurisdiction without first informing the EOCO. The latter obviously placed the ban on him without his knowledge. Apart from this, The Chronicle is equally alarmed that Mr Miracles Aboagye was arrested at the airport. Since the former IMCCoD head has admitted that he was once invited by EOCO, there is no way he would have returned to the jurisdiction if he had wanted to run away.
But in this case, the man who had been placed on ‘stop order’ list managed to leave the country, which in itself is an indictment on EOCO, but only to be arrested upon return. Does this make sense in reality? Couldn’t they have allowed him to leave the airport and then officially write to invite him for questioning, after which a decision could have been taken to detain him or otherwise?
The conduct of EOCO clearly fuels the speculation that Mr Aboagye’s arrest was politically motivated, especially when had announced a day prior to his arrival in the country that he was going to contest for NPP’s Director of Communications positions. But much as we condemn EOCO for this avoidable gaffe, we must also look at the other side of the coin.
Both the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) whilst in government have used the security agencies as a weapon to harass their opponents. Indeed, when the now opposition NPP was in power, NDC members complained bitterly about the way the security agencies were being used to harass them. At that time NPP members did not see anything wrong with what was going on, but they have now found their voices.
If NDC finds itself in opposition tomorrow, its leading members will start making the same ugly noises, forgetting that they were doing the same thing to their opponents yesterday. This is the vicious cycle the two leading political parties have adopted.
Regrettably, we pride ourselves as leading democracy in West Africa when in truth we are rather practising the opposite. If Ghana is indeed practising true democracy, some of these politically motivated arrests could have been avoided. But isn’t time for us to say enough is enough and put an end this political rituals? We rest our case.
For more news, join The Chronicle Newspaper channel on WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VbBSs55E50UqNPvSOm2z
