Member of Parliament(MP) for North Tongu in the Volta Region, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has renewed his demand that the police and security agencies release more than sixty of his constituents held in their custody.
The persons were arrested in September following secessionist attacks in parts of the Volta Region, and have since been in custody as investigations continue. The police have regularly appealed to the courts to allow for more time for investigations. But Mr Ablakwa has demanded that they be released since the state has been unable to say exactly why they are being held.
“I reiterate our demand for the immediate release of more than 60 of my constituents including an Asafoatse, nursing mothers, young students, sick and frail elders who have all been in custody for more than a month in the aftermath of the September 25 violent invasion.
The state has thus far failed to convince the courts as to why they are being held with consistent demands for more time to investigate,” he wrote on social media.
Mr Ablakwa however noted that he is calling for their release because he supports the activities they are alleged to have committed but was doing so because of the failure of the state to find fault with them and the sorry situation of the persons arrested.
“I must not be misunderstood: I remain firmly opposed to all forms of secessionism and separatism, however, as MP, I cannot accept the disheartening situation where real perpetrators captured on video are literally allowed to escape only for innocent constituents to be made to suffer such cruel injustice.
Considering that lawyers have confirmed to me that many of their sick clients are being denied access to medication and adequate health care as credible reports indicate that one person has already died, these gross human right violations must stop forthwith. There can be nothing to gain from a destabilized Volta Region,” he explained.
He cautioned that government must be tactical so as to not get the public to rather sympathize with the suspected secessionists, adding that if people tend to sympathize with the suspected secessionists, it could lead to further attacks or ease of recruitment of people into the ranks of the secessionists.
“Government must also be cautioned against engaging in acts that may rather court sympathy for the so-called secessionists/terrorists/insurgents/mercenaries (whatever impartial investigations will eventually reveal they are) and even more dangerously – acts that can indirectly lead to more recruitments and further radicalization with grim consequences to the peace and stability of our dear nation,” he stated.
Last September, persons suspected to be secessionists launched attack in the Volta Region. They attacked police stations and made away with weapons. They blocked roads and set vehicles alight. Security agencies arrested dozens of persons suspected to be the persons that carried out the attacks. But prosecution has been slow.
