The opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) has filed a complaint against the Akufo-Addo government to the Commonwealth Secretariat over what it regards and growing tyranny of the administration.
In a letter signed by the NDC’s General Secretary, Johnson Asiedu Nketia, Mr. Akufo-Addo is accused of using state institutions, including the judiciary to wage war on the opposition.
“Since assuming power in 2016 the message of physical violence against political opponents that President Nana Addo Danquah preached and championed before 2016 General Election has turned into structural institutional and systematic forms of violence in the form of human rights violations, harassment and political persecution against members and supporters the National Democratic Congress,” the NDC General Secretary, Johnson Asiedu Nketiah told the media in a press conference.
He continued “Significantly, buffer institutions such as the judiciary whose core mandate is to mediate between the interest of opposing parties, and ensure the promotion of the rule of law and the promotion of individual liberties have become systematic enfeeble with the attendance of loss of public confidence in these institutions,”
The complaint comes in the wake of the government’s target of opposition MPs in a bid to reduce their numbers to make way for the passage of the unpopular e-levy.
In this regard, the government has gotten the Supreme Court to injunct the NDC’s MP for Assin North, Hon. James Gyakye Quayson, on grounds that he had stood for election while holding Canadian citizenship.
This is in spite of the fact that before the election, the Electoral Commission (EC) had investigated the claim that he held dual citizenship and dismissed same.
Also, the NDC’s Ranking Member on the Finance Committee of Parliament, Hon. Casiel Ato Forson has been arraigned before court over claims that he approved the purchase of ambulances that were not fit for purpose as far back as 2016.
It has widely been perceived that the cases are politically motivated with the intent to use the Judiciary, which many now perceive as a wing of the ruling NPP, to harass minority MPs who are opposed to the e-levy, a tax described as thievish by some experts.
The Commonwealth Secretariat is the main intergovernmental agency and a central institution of the Commonwealth of Nations.
It is responsible for facilitating co-operation between members; organising meetings, including the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meetings (CHOGM); assisting and advising on policy development; and providing assistance to countries in implementing the decisions and policies of the Commonwealth.
The Secretariat has observer status in the United Nations General Assembly.