A lead convener of the #FixTheCountry movement, Oliver Barker-Vormawor, has been charged with treason felony.
This is an offence provided for in section 182(b) of Ghana’s Criminal offences Act.
This provides: (a) “A person is guilty of treason felony and shall be punishable as for first-degree felony who —
b) prepares or endeavours to carry out by unlawful means any enterprise which usurps the executive power of the State in any matter of both a public and a general nature.“
Last Thursday, Mr Vormawor took to social media to threaten a coup following pictures emerging from the Majority Leader’s 65th birthday bash showing an ‘E-levy’-designed cake.
He posted: “If this E-Levy passes after this cake bullshit, I will do the coup myself. Useless Army!”
In a subsequent post, he explained the context in which he used the word coup.
He was arrested on Friday evening after he arrived from the United Kingdom and there was no word about his whereabouts for hours.
The Police later released a statement about Mr Barker-Vormawor’s disappearance.
According to the Police, Mr Barker-Vormawor’s “post contains a clear statement of intent with a possible will to execute a coup in his declaration of intent to subvert the Constitution of the Republic of Ghana.”
On Monday, Prosecutor, DSP Sylvestre Asare, informed the court that the Ashaiman Police received a complaint that Mr Barker-Vormawor was inciting some persons to overthrow the government.
He said investigations had revealed that this incitement subsequently took place on social media. This he said formed the basis of the charge against the accused person.
Lawyers for Mr Barker-Vormawor, led by Anthony Akoto Ampaw, urged the court to grant him bail.
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They accused the police of defying a Supreme Court ruling that stated that an accused person must be put before the court within 48 hours with weekends inclusive.
DSP Asare in a sharp rebuttal, however, pointed out that the Police over the weekend reached out to the Chief Justice hoping to get a court to hear the matter. All efforts, he continued provided futile.
The judge, hearing the matte, Eleanor Barnes, remanded the accused person into police custody pointing out that the nature and severity of the crime meant the court could not grant bail.
The court also ordered that he should be allowed to see his family and lawyers every day between 10:00 am and 4:00 pm.
He is expected to reappear on Monday, February 28.