A member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) National Communications Team, Richard Gyamfi, has accused President John Mahama of hypocrisy over his comments that he is not aware of several arrests linked to alleged insults against him.

Gyamfi argued that Mahama cannot distance himself from the arrests while also maintaining that he has the authority to call the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) to order if officers are acting improperly.

“Who is the Commander-in-Chief in terms of our armed forces and security? Who is the chairman of the National Security Council? The president is,” he on Metro TV’s Good Morning Ghana.

Gyamfi questioned how the president could claim not to know about the arrests when security agencies operate under the government’s oversight. He said the arrests had become a public issue, with demonstrations and appeals being made over the treatment of those detained.

Host Moro Awudu pointed out that the president had said he heard about the arrests through the media and was uncomfortable with the circumstances surrounding some of them.

He also questioned whether the president could be expected to know every person arrested by the police.

Gyamfi accepted that the president could not be expected to monitor every arrest but insisted that the cases under discussion were different because of the public attention they had attracted.

“These are political arrests,” he said, arguing that the president should have been briefed on the matter.

Gyamfi said Mahama’s comments left him with two possible interpretations: either the president was being hypocritical or he was losing control of his own government. He also questioned whether the president’s remarks reflected a lack of authority over the security agencies.