Akufo Addo’s Tyrannical Witch-Hunting Targets Prof. Atugubah

– Receives Dubious Notice Of Tax Audit After Lecture

In the growing clampdown on dissenting voices and impervious culture of silence under the Akufo Addo administration, Professor Raymond Atuguba, the Dean of the University of Ghana Law School has become the latest victim, after he warned that the country must be on the lookout for any potential coup d’etat.

Shortly after he had delivered his message, apparatchiks and officials of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) had called for the head of the law professor. And shortly after these calls, the Akufo-Addo government sent tax auditors after Prof. Atugubah’s law firm, Atuguba and Associates.

Prof. Atugubah delivered a public lecture organized by Solidare Ghana, where he warned that the economic hardships in the country and the rising trend of coup d’état in the West African sub-region places Ghana in a perilous position for a potential coup.

But true to the premonitions of the constitutional law expert who said he will issue the warning anyway, despite the possibility of the tyrannical response from the Akufo Addo administration which gets extremely hysterical at the mention of the word “Coup”.

“Let me end this part of my speech here before I am arrested or before they send the tax authorities to come and find fault with my law firm by force,” Prof. Atuguba feared.

Nd like clockwork, Whatsup News has seen a letter from the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) sent to Atugubah and Associates, announcing a stint tax inspection operation.

“This letter is to inform you that your Tax Return for the period stated above is due for audit under the provision of the Tax Laws. We have attached documents outlining your rights as a taxpayer.”

The letter is on the Domestic Tax Revenue Division (DTRD) of the GRA.

Critics think the coincidence of the proposed tax audit was just too suspicious close to the mentioning of the word “Coup” by Prof. Atuguba for it to be a mere routine.

About three weeks ago, a convener of the youth group #FixTheCountry, Oliver Barker-Vormawor had contextually used the word coup to describe his disgust at state-sponsored killing of Ghanaians by the military and the attempt by the Akufo Addo administration to impose an obnoxious Electronic Levy (E-levy) on angry Ghanaians.

Shortly after Mr. Barker-Vormawor had made his series of Facebook posts on the subject, he returned to Ghana from the UK, where he is undertaking his Ph.D. research in law. He was immediately picked up Rambo-style at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) and bundled to jail without allowing him to see or talk to his lawyer and family members for about two days. The state security agents also illegally held him for over 60 hours without trial, instead of the legal threshold of 48 hours.

Finally, Barker-Vormawor was charged with a treason felony and taken to a District Court which had no jurisdiction for such a trial. The court further stepped on Mr. Barker-Vormawor’s constitutional right by refusing him bail, despite not having jurisdiction over the case.

So, when Prof. Atuguba dedicated his lecture to Barker-Vormawor as a freedom fighter, he inevitably became a target of state institutions doing the bidding of President Akufo Addo’s administration.

“This lecture is dedicated to Mawuse Oliver Barker-Vormawor another junior brother of mine, for all his work in trying to #FixTheCountry and to reform our constitution. It is also dedicated to my big brother, Akoto Ampaw, and Justice Serensai another Junior brother of mine and all the other lawyers and activists who are working around the clock to secure his release from unlawful detention,” Prof. Aguguba charged.

“I visited Mawuse in jail some two weeks ago and the conditions under which he was being held are not fit even for your worst enemy,” Prof. Atuguba said.