Who gave Gbande the EOCO remote control?

Deputy General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mustapha Gbande

By Jimmy Aglah

Once upon a time, in the Republic of Uncommon Sense, we finally discovered that fighting crime may be easier than we thought.

You may not need to be an investigator.

You may not need a warrant.

You may not even need an EOCO identity card.

Apparently, you may simply need to know whom to tell.

Enter Mustapha Gbande, Deputy General Secretary of the ruling NDC and Deputy Director of Operations at the Office of the President.

In the continuing drama surrounding Manhyia South MP Nana Agyei Baffour Awuah, Gbande has publicly declared that he told EOCO to arrest the MP.

Not alleged.

Not whispered by anonymous sources.

Not leaked from somebody's WhatsApp group.

The gentleman himself said it.

“I told him to arrest him. I wouldn’t lie about it.”

Ei.

In Ghana, sometimes the problem is not that politicians say too little. It is that microphones are very patient.

Now, let us be fair.

EOCO says it had been investigating the Manhyia South MP over alleged financial transactions involving SIC Life Savings and Loans. It says earlier invitations had not been honoured. A High Court subsequently issued a warrant, the MP later reported himself to EOCO, was charged, pleaded not guilty and was granted bail.

So this is not an argument that EOCO had no grounds of its own for investigating him.

That is precisely why Gbande's intervention is so fascinating.

If EOCO already had investigators, evidence, invitations, lawyers and eventually a court warrant, what exactly was the purpose of a political official telling the EOCO boss whom to arrest?

Was it advice?

Encouragement?

Motivational speaking?

Or had somebody temporarily added Director of Arrests to the Deputy Director of Operations job description?

Because the EOCO Act says the Executive Director is responsible for the day-to-day administration and operations of the Office. The law gives EOCO officers investigative powers. I searched carefully. I could not locate the subsection marked:

"Upon receiving further instructions from the deputy general secretary of the ruling party...

Perhaps my copy is outdated.

Gbande explains that he was concerned about a citizen appearing to defy a law-enforcement agency. That argument can certainly be debated.

But there is a larger danger here.

In a democracy, justice must not merely be lawful; it must visibly belong to institutions rather than political parties.

Today, your party official tells an investigative agency to arrest somebody you dislike, and you applaud because you believe the suspect deserves it.

Tomorrow, another government arrives.

Another party official acquires the imaginary remote control.

And suddenly you discover that the batteries are still working.

Dennis Miracles Aboagye of the NPP has therefore asked the obvious question: by what authority does a political operative direct EOCO whom to arrest? That question deserves an answer regardless of whether the politician asking it wears red, blue, green or the national kente.

The guilt or innocence of Nana Agyei Baffour Awuah belongs to the courts.

The independence and credibility of EOCO belong to all of us.

And perhaps EOCO itself should now tell Ghanaians something very simple:

Who decides whom EOCO arrests?

Because in the Republic of Uncommon Sense, once politicians begin boasting that they instructed law-enforcement agencies to arrest citizens, the most important investigation may no longer be about who was arrested.

It may be about who is holding the remote control.

#RepublicOfUncommonSense #EOCO #RuleOfLaw #GhanaPolitics

DISCLAIMER: The Views, Comments, Opinions, Contributions and Statements made by Readers and Contributors on this platform do not necessarily represent the views or policy of Multimedia Group Limited.

Tags:  

DISCLAIMER: The Views, Comments, Opinions, Contributions and Statements made by Readers and Contributors on this platform do not necessarily represent the views or policy of Multimedia Group Limited.