A comment about coup should not warrant police invasion – Dr Obed Asamoah
Threatening coup de tat merely by word of mouth and making comments about a coup should not warrant a police arrest, former Attorney General and Minister of Justice Obed Asamoah has opined.
He buttressed his point by suggesting that a person deserves to be apprehended by the police only on condition that, there is undeniable evidence suggesting that apart from the person threatening, he or she has gone a step further in planning to finally execute the coup.
For him, such comments are borne out of excitement not backed by actual intention to carry it out.
“There is a difference between speech and action. [If I were the Attorney General] I will take action only when there is evidence of preparation to carry out a coup. If somebody is only talking, I will just take it to be over-excitement. I won’t go arresting people for that,” he said.
His comments come in the wake of Prof Raymond Atuguba’s cautioning that Ghana’s dire economic situation makes it vulnerable to a forceful takeover of government.
It will be recalled that the Dean of the University of Ghana School of Law, Prof. Raymond Atuguba while delivering a speech during a forum expressed fear that Ghana could be taken over by the Military if urgent action is not taken by the state to address the deteriorating economic fortunes of the country.
“We do not want a coup in this country. Yet I fear that if we do not act quickly, we may have one in our hands very soon,” he said while delivering a lecture in Accra.
Two persons are currently standing trials after being charged with treason-related offences for coup-related comments.
Also, some Ghanaians are of the view that comments about military takeover must not be taken lightly but be dealt with, while others have indicated their fear that it may be imminent.
Meanwhile, Dr Obed Asamoah indicated that calls for coups are in no way justified, as the implications are dire and do more harm than good.
“I know they [ Coup plotters ] think that they want to help the underprivileged but they don’t know what happened [previously]. They haven’t had experiences of a coup d’état. In the confusion of the coup, one of the things that happen is, individual soldiers, take vengeance on people. They harass people because they have had some issues with those individuals, and that is not helpful,” he cautioned.
