Gov’t is harassing Sosu just to divert attention from their incompetence – Afriyie Ankrah

Director of Elections for the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Elvis Afriyie Ankrah, has said the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) is trying to divert attention of Ghanaians from the mismanagement of the economy by harassing Madina Member of Parliament, Francis-Xavier Sosu.

In his view, Sosu’s issue is being used to intimidate Ghanaians from demonstrating against the economic difficulties they are saddled with at the moment.

Mr Afriyie Ankrah told TV3’s Evelyn Tengmaa in an interview on Friday November 5 that “It is an agenda, the NPP is under pressure, they stole the elections and they cannot manage the economy. Do you know the debt to GDP ratio? It is 90 per cent.

“They are going back to the IMF that they condemned. The country is in a mess, nothing is working. So, these are all diversionary tactics, they want to use fear and intimidation.

“This country does not belong to Akufo-Addo and his people, it belongs to all of us.

“You cannot have one section of the people being treated one way and another being treated the other way. What about Hawa Koomson who fired the gun? She herself said ‘I fired the gun’.”

Meanwhile, the case involving Sosu has been adjourned to November 16 after the Speaker of Parliament Alban Bagbin told the court in a written letter on Monday November 8 that Sosu is out of the country on parliamentary duties.

After proceedings the Madina Constituency Secretary for the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Abdul Razak told journalists that “The court made it clear to the lawyers that they received a letter from the speaker of parliament that the honorable member of Parliament is on parliamentary duty outside the country and he has been sent by the speaker and I think he is has been sent together with other ranking members .

The case was adjourned to November 16 by the Kaneshie District Court in Accra.

The Police had officially charged him for causing damage to public property.

The Director General, Public Affairs Directorate of the Police Service, ACP Kwasi Ofori, said on Wednesday November 3 that he had been duly served and was expected to appear in court.

“The Police has obtained a criminal summons and has been duly served for him to appear in court on November 8…as we enumerated the charges includes obstructing the highway, causing damage to public property,” he said.

The National Democratic Congress MP had led some of his constituents to embark on a demonstration against deplorable roads in his constituency.

The demonstration started peacefully at Danfa around 6:00am but later saw demonstrators burning tyres and mounting roadblocks on the Ayi Mensah-Danfa Road.

Sosu has however denied saying “That any allegation of the Police about my involvement in unlawful blockade of road and destruction of public property is false and an afterthought carefully manufactured by the police to shift attention of the people of Ghana from the key issues of bad roads raised by our protest and demonstration.”