Nana Agyei Baffuor Awuah, a member of Parliament’s Constitutional and Legal Affairs Committee, has said the New Patriotic Party (NPP) is not opposed to investigations involving its members, but is concerned about bail conditions it says have been used to pressure opposition figures.
Speaking on Joy FM’s Top Story on Friday, Mr Awuah responded to remarks attributed to President John Mahama that ongoing investigations are evidence-based rather than politically motivated.
The lawmaker said the party’s position was that investigations and criminal proceedings should be conducted fairly and in line with the law. He argued that the principal concern raised by the opposition related to bail terms imposed by security agencies in some high-profile matters.
Mr Awuah cited bail conditions involving the Ashanti Regional NPP Chairman, known as Chairman Wontumi, and former Inter-Ministerial Coordinating Committee on Decentralisation Executive Secretary Dennis Miracles Aboagye. He referred to a GH¢50 million bail granted to Mr Aboagye as an example of what he described as a punitive condition.
He maintained that bail at the investigation stage should be intended to ensure a suspect is available when required by investigators, rather than operating as punishment. He alleged that, in cases concerning opposition members, bail had been used to intimidate or oppress them.
According to Mr Awuah, the NPP has not publicly objected whenever its members have been investigated. He said public concern has generally emerged when the terms of bail have become contentious.
The MP also questioned the handling of some cases by the courts and said President Mahama’s rejection of the opposition’s concerns indicated, in his view, that the President had not sufficiently considered recent developments surrounding investigations.
The remarks represent the lawmaker’s and the NPP’s stated position on the matters. The source material did not include a response from the government, security agencies, the courts or the individuals connected to the cited cases.
