Major (Rtd) Kwadwo Boakye-Djan has been arrested and granted bail after making comments deemed to have breached the peace of the country.
According to police, he has been charged with the offence of offensive conduct conducive to the breach of peace contrary to section 207 of the Criminal and Other Offences Act.
The comments, which were made on Accra Based Okay FM, were purportedly in relation to Electoral Commission (EC).
In addition to this arrest, police are also investigating the Deputy General Secretary of the New Patriotic Party, Nana Obiri Boahen, for comments made on the same programme on May 15.
After being granted police enquiry bail, Major Boakye-Djan is expected to report to police once a week.
The arrest came after he was questioned by officials of the Criminal Investigations Department of the Ghana Police Service at his residence on Tuesday at his hometown at Bebianiha in the Bono Region.
The National Youth Organizer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), George Opare Addo, slammed the recent arrest and told Citi News it was a clear case of political persecution.
“I will say that the police are being used as puppets and the puppet master is President Nana Akufo-Addo at the [Jubilee] House and he is using the police to intimidate his political opponents.”
Mr. Opare Addo also insisted that Major Boakye-Djan was within his rights to criticise the EC.
“Major Boakye-Djan is an experienced soldier. He has seen it all before in terms of civil unrest and coups in this country and he foresees the challenges associated with what the Electoral Commissioner is doing.”
“I don’t think this warrants arrests and for the police to even go out of their way to effect this shameful arrest, it tells you what kind of democracy we are building,” he added.
The EC has faced recent criticism by mainly the NDC after it submitted a Constitutional Instrument (C.I) to Parliament to pass legislation that will make only the National Identification Card and the Ghana Passport eligible for registration onto the voters’ register.
This has led to accusations that the National Identification Authority (NIA) and the EC are conspiring to rig the 2020 general elections for the New Patriotic Party (NPP).
The EC has also been under fire for its moves to compile a new electoral roll to complete new equipment it is purchasing for the conduct of the 2020 elections.
