Lawyer questions National Security over style of arrest of civilians

Private Legal Practitioner, Lawyer Abraham Amaliba has questioned the level of education and training the Ghana Police Service gives its members at the Ghana Police Training School.

According to him, the way and manner in which the members of the Ghana Police Service issues arrests are mostly against the constitution of Ghana and their mandate.

He noted that the constitution insists the police give reasons for an arrest to any suspect in the language she/he understands before issuing the arrest and must identify themselves. “Just saying you’re a policeman or a National Security agent is not enough. You have to identify yourself with an ID. But the police doesn’t do all these.”

Speaking in an interview on Happy 98.9 FM’s ‘Epa Hoa Daben’, the astute lawyer questioned, “What kind of education does the police give their recruits? Do they teach them constitutional law? Are their recruits unteachable or the police training school is just not doing its job?”

These series of questions come at the back of the recent wave of arrests in the country which are mostly against the rights of individuals being arrested and are considered violent.

Condemning the manner in which Kwabena Owusu Agyei was picked up by the state security apparatus he said, “The style, form and how he was arrested is questionable. What even shows he was arrested by national security operatives?”

The General Overseer of Hezekiah Prayer Ministries, Kwabena Owusu Agyei is in the custody of the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI). He was picked up during a live interview with Accra based radio station on Tuesday morning.

The arrest follows his alleged threats on the life of the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission (EC), Jean Mensa.