A lead convenor of the #FixtheCountry# Movement, Oliver Barker-Vormawor, has announced that he would file a former complaint against the Minister for National Security, Albert Kan-Dapaah.
In a post shared on X (formally known as Twitter), on September 25, 2023, Barker-Vormawor indicated that he would be filing the complaint against the minister because of corruption advances he (the minister) made against him.
He added that the complaint would be filed at the Office of the Special Prosecutor.
“I have resolved upon the advice of lawyers to file a formal criminal complaint against the Minister for National Security.
“This will be made to the Special Prosecutor in connection with the corruption advances made,” the post he shared reads.
Background:
Advocates of the #FixTheCountry movement made a shocking allegation that they were offered a staggering one million dollars to halt the #OccupyJulorbiHouse protest.
The allegation, made through the official FixTheCountry Twitter account, shed light on the efforts made to thwart the #OccupyJulorBiHouse protest.
The #OccupyJulorbiHouse protest organized by Democracy Hub faced a severe setback as police arrested protesters who had gathered to express their grievances.
The #OccupyJulorbi protest had initially commenced despite the police-secured injunction, with the organizers emphasizing that they had not received formal notification of the court order.
Reacting to this development in a tweet posted by the FixTheCountry Twitter account, the group stated, “Since they want it this way, we will talk. The cabinet promised us $1 million if only we can stop the demonstration. We rejected! We want a better Ghana.”
Oliver Barker-Vormawor told journalists on Friday, 22 September 2023, following his release from police custody after being arrested along with other fellow #OccupyJulorbiHouse demonstrators that “unknown to the government, we have recordings” of those meetings with Mr Kan Dapaah.
He said: “While I was in the UK, the National Security Minister called and invited me for a sit-down. The government offered to pay for my flight, in order to meet here in Ghana”.
“This was something that was never disclosed to the public”, he said, “but we met at a safe house for us to stop our activism,” Mr Barker-Vormawor narrated.
“This was way before we started the first #FixTheCountry demonstration,” he noted.
“We were offered not only money but appointments; and if we agreed to stop this, we were going to be free, but the most important thing was not to bring citizens onto the streets,” he claimed.
He said: “When we rejected that, Kan Dapaah, the National Security Minister, said to my face that if we decide to continue on this course of action, we will be arrested.”
“We will be dealt with and that it will be over his dead body any demonstrations will happen. At the time we were even in Supreme Court at the time,” he said.
“So, I was not surprised that I was ultimately arrested by the government and continue being charged for treason,” he said, adding: “For over two years now, the government has tried to prevent us from mobilising people.”
In a statement, however, the ministry acknowledged that the Ministers of National Security, and Finance; and other relevant stakeholders, in 2021, engaged the conveners of the Fix the Country Movement to listen to their concerns, but added: “It must be stated emphatically that no offer of money or appointment was made to persuade the group to end its ‘activism'”.
“The allegations made by Oliver Barker-Vormawor are, thus, false, unfounded, and a calculated attempt to hoodwink Ghanaians”, the statement noted.
“This Ministry, therefore, challenges him to produce the alleged recording of the said inducement. Meanwhile, the general public is urged to ignore the allegations and treat them with the utmost contempt they deserve”, the statement added.
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