#FixTheCountry convenor, Oliver Barker-Vormawor has promised to pursue a number of avenues to ensure that those responsible for breaching Covid-19 protocols at the funeral of the late General Secretary of the NPP, Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie are dealt with in accordance with the law.
One of such avenues is to file an formal complaint with the Inspector-General of Police (IGP).
Mr Barker-Vormawor, in an interview on PM:Express, indicated that after filing the petition to the IGP if a decision is made not to prosecute the individuals responsible for the breach of the Imposition of Restriction Act, the convenors of #FixTheCountry will “challenge the exercise of prosecutorial discretion around this in the Supreme Court.”
“So that is what we are going to do within the means of the law as much as citizens who want to be vigilant in the protection of our constitutional right,” he said.
He further described the failure of the country’s leaders to ensure the compliance of the Covid-19 protocols at Sir John’s funeral as “is a clear dereliction of duty” – one that should not be taken for granted.
Mr Barker-Vormawor further stated that “if the system that we have put in place fails to produce the results that our constitutional democracy expects, the best thing we can do is to continue to push that conversation.”
In the absence of that, he believes such blatant disregard of our laws by the nation’s political leaders will “continue to undermine the authority of the 1992 Constitution” and that may lead the country to “a point where the constitutional document will be so abused that the 4th Republic itself may be in jeopardy”.
He, however, noted that although our Constitution gives the president immunity because it “expects that certain things can be dealt with the political process”, every citizen has the right to “petition Parliament to call for the impeachment of the President”.
“Our constitution provides those remedies for us to test them and to hope that our constitutional democracy will grow from experiences like this… If the system that we have put in place fails to produce the result that our constitutional democracy expects, the best we can do is to continue to push that conversation.
His comment follows the burial ceremony held last week for the former General Secretary of the NPP, Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie which was attended by attended by thousands of mourners.
The President, his Vice and the Chief Justice and other Government functionaries were all present when hundreds of people crammed into each other in what the Ghana Medical Association described as a super spreader event.
The gathering was in breach of the Imposition of Restrictions Act, 2020 (Act 1012) and Covid-19 protocols were completely disregarded. There was no physical distancing and only few people wore face masks.