Legal practitioner Kwame Jantuah has criticized the General Secretary of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Justin Kodua Frimpong, over his response to the arrest of former NPP parliamentary candidate for Adenta, Alfred Kumi.
Kumi was reportedly picked up by National Security operatives shortly after submitting a petition to President John Dramani Mahama, calling for the dissolution of a five-member committee investigating the potential removal of Chief Justice Gertrude Torkornoo.
In his petition, Kumi alleged misconduct by members of the committee, claiming they were seen meeting with legal counsel for one of the petitioners in a setting that could compromise the credibility of their inquiry.
Following his arrest, Justin Kodua called on party supporters via social media to mass up at Kumi’s residence in Adenta to resist what he described as an unlawful raid, which has sparked backlash.
Speaking on Morning Starr with Naa Dedei Tettey, Mr. Jantuah condemned the NPP General Secretary’s call, describing it as reckless, immature, and a potential threat to the rule of law.
Jantuah raised concerns about the nature of the arrest, particularly the involvement of national security personnel rather than the police.
However, he emphasized that if national security conducted the arrest, it was likely based on intelligence or credible reasons.
He cautioned that such actions risk undermining national security institutions and could create instability if left unchecked.
Jantuah said, “That advice is immature because what the General Secretary should have said and done is ‘NPP loyalist, meet the gentleman at where they are taking him to and defend him’, it should not be his house, you don’t have the power to stop that kind of thing. Because they did it the last time? It should not be something that is done all the time somebody is arrested. It is very wrong. If not for nothing at all, you meet him at where he’s been taken to, and you get lawyers to defend him.”
“Is this not a national security issue? If the National Security has gone to arrest him, they have reasons to arrest him. Why isn’t the police who went to arrest him, but national security? What I wasn’t in favor of was the mode that they went there, but it’s an allegation. But I don’t understand why the General Secretary should say NPP people should go and mass up at the place. We have laws in this country, and a political party cannot decide to be unruly, and he’s been unruly.”
Meanwhile, supporters of the NPP who beseeched the comments section to chastise the general secretary and pressed him to pull down the post.
