A convener of the #FixTheCountry Movement, Oliver Barker-Vormawor is expected to be arraigned today to face charges of alleged coup plot.
He was arrested after a Facebook comment in which he declared his intent to stage a coup if Parliament passes the Electronic Transaction Levy (E-levy) bill currently before the House.
According to reports, some security personnel picked up the Cambridge University PhD student upon arriving from the United Kingdom on Friday evening at about 4 pm.
Barker-Vormawor took to social media to threaten a coup on February 9, 2022 following pictures emerging from Majority Leader Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu ’s 65th birthday celebration showing an ‘E-levy’-designed cake.
He posted on Facebook that, “If this E-Levy passes after this cake bullshit, I will do the coup myself. Useless Army!”
The police in a statement after his arrest said the “post contains a clear statement of intent with a possible will to execute a coup in his declaration of intent to subvert the Constitution of the Republic of Ghana”.
The Director-General of Public Affairs for the Ghana Police Service, DCOP Kwesi Ofori, said they would investigate the intentions of #FixTheCountry convener’s coup comment.
He told Newsfile host, Samson Lardy Anyenini, that the Tema Regional Police Command is currently probing into the issue.
Police rebuts fake reports
On Saturday, the Police denied reports that #FixTheCountry convener, could not be found, stressing that such claims were false and must be disregarded.
“In our press release following his arrest, we stated clearly that Mr Barker-Vormawor was arrested by the Tema Regional Police Command to assist with investigations.
“In line with our standard operating procedure, the Police proactively ensured that his family and his lawyer were given access to him.
“We wish to assure the good people of Ghana that the police will continue to follow due process in the performance of our duties”, the Police reiterated in a public notice.
Hunger strike
Meanwhile Baker-Vormawor was said to be on hunger strike 48 hours since his arrest.
A colleague in the Movement, Felicity Nelson, said the action taken by the accused person was to protest what she described as the false democracy under which the governance system was being run.
She claimed the alleged coup monger refused to eat any food and was surviving only on water.
Ms Nelson told Joy FM yesterday that the delay in granting Baker-Vormawor access to legal counsel is one of the reasons why he has taken that decision.
She also revealed that the officers who arrested the accused person declined to disclose their identity until he was whisked to the police station.
“The men who accosted him didn’t introduce themselves nor tell him why he was being arrested. When he went into police custody. It took over 24 hours before he was even allowed legal counsel,” she retorted.
Ms Nelson said the issues add up to the myriad of injustices meted out to ordinary citizens for the benefit of the political elite in the country.
