Arrest Of Collins Dauda ‘Useless’ – Asiedu Nketia

The General Secretary of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Asiedu Nketia, has stated that the supposed arrest of their Member of Parliament for the Asutifi South Constituency, Alhaji Collins Dauda by the police is a diversionary tactics.

According to him, the arrest was to divert the attention of the nation from some raging issues including the controversial StarTimes issue as well as the struggling cedi.

“There are all these challenges in the economy and when there is a problem they want a diversion. They know that the StarTimes contract is generating a lot of heat so they want some means of diverting the attention of the nation, we refuse to be diverted,” he said in an interview.

Some police officers stormed the residence of Member of Parliament for Asutifi South, Alhaji Collins Dauda to arrest him.

The incident happened Tuesday dawn at his home in the constituency where the police claim they had orders from above.

Minority Chief Whip, Mohammed Mubarak Muntaka confirmed this to Adom FM’s morning show, Dwaso Nsem Tuesday.

He said Collins Dauda was not home when the incident occurred but his family members were left traumatised.

‘Don’t arrest any MP without informing me’ – Speaker warns police

The Speaker of Parliament, Professor Mike Oquaye, on Tuesday warned the Police against arbitrary attempts to arrest some Members of Parliament without recourse to laid down parliamentary procedure.

He said on the floor of Parliament that the actions of the police were a clear breach of parliamentary immunity.

“We want the security agencies to be mindful of the fact that the police should not invade the premises of a member of Parliament or appear to be doing so in a manner that will raise unnecessary difficulties for us,” he added.

“We want to put on record that in future, the leadership of the House and the Speaker of the House should be informed of all such needs so that it can be done with the appropriate decency.”

Background

The Police at Kenyasi in the Asutifi North District said they were after one Ahmed, alleged to be a bodyguard of Mr. Dauda.

His bodyguard was said to have allegedly assaulted a sympathizer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) identified as Sarfo Keneth, at the district Electoral Commission office where the ongoing limited registration is taking place in Kenyasi.

According to the police, the commotion started when the suspect in the company of Mr. Dauda allegedly took a photo of Sarfo after they had reportedly prevented the MP from accessing the registration centre.

The District Police Commander, DSP Teddy Brown, told Citi News he “had information that Hon. Collins Dauda came to the centre and on his arrival, some of the youth passed derogatory comments about him and it provoked him and he left and promised to return fully prepared to engage them.”

“So at about 4:00pm, he returned and entered into EC Director’s office, held some discussion with him. Sensing danger, I rushed there with my men but he did not do anything or posed danger to the process”, the Police Commander explained.

He intimated that the MP then came out and stayed about 50 meters away from the centre to observe the process. He said a lady then raised an alarm that the bodyguard was taking pictures of the NPP faithful, and this sparked the confusion.

“The lady raised an alarm that one of Hon. Dauda’s guys was taking shots of the NPP faithful and that angered them resulting in a free for all trading of blows ignited by Ahmed, who led his boys in the attack” he narrated.

Eleven (11) military men and 15 police officers were later dispatched from the region to assist the officers on the ground to maintain law and order.

All potential voters were assured of their safety and encouraged to come out in their numbers to participate in the process geared towards a referendum expected to lead to the creation of a new region out of the existing Brong Ahafo Region.