Two citizens have petitioned the CID of the Ghana Police Service to investigate Bimbilla lawmaker, Dominic Aduna Bingab Nitiwul, over his public comments on the planned redevelopment of the Konkomba Yam Market at Agbogbloshie.
The petition to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the police was filed by Director of Communications of the United Party, Solomon Owusu and Andrew Appiah-Danquah, its Legal Affairs Director.
They want the police to probe the former Defence Minister’s statement contained in a video circulating on social media concerning the Accra Metropolitan Assembly’s (AMA) plan to establish a 24-hour market at Agbogbloshie.
According to the petitioners, the comments by the MP go beyond legitimate criticism of government policy and introduce what they describe as an inflammatory ethnic dimension into the redevelopment exercise.
In the video cited, Mr Nitiwul is alleged to have said the exercise targeted only Konkombas.
“We don’t see what the Konkomba tribe has done against the Government, that they have only come to the centre of Agbogbloshie, where the Konkombas reside, and decided to site the 24-hour market there,” he is quoted as saying.
He is further quoted as saying, “They left the site this way; they left the site behind; they left the site at the other side – but only marked where the Konkomba people are. We feel that it is targeted at just removing the Konkombas from Accra.”
The petition said the MP also questioned, “what crime have they committed? Are they not Ghanaians? So why? Why are they being targeted?” and added, “Mr President, stop your Mayor. Mr President, let him stop targeting the Konkomba tribe.”
The petitioners argue that such representations, including claims that every store in the market and places where traders sleep had been marked for demolition while other areas were left untouched, are capable of causing fear among members of the Konkomba community and creating hostility towards government and the AMA.
Of particular concern, they cited the MP’s declarations that “they are not moving tomorrow” and “continue to bring their yams,” saying it could be interpreted as encouragement to defy the exercise and lead to confrontation between traders and public officers.
They are asking the CID to investigate possible offences under Section 207 and Section 208 of the Criminal Offences Act, 1960 (Act 29), which deal with use of threatening, abusive or insulting words likely to provoke a breach of the peace, and publication of false statements likely to cause fear and alarm.
The petitioners want the police to secure the video, obtain official redevelopment plans and markings from the AMA, conduct an independent inspection of the site, interview market leadership, and invite Mr Nitiwul to provide the factual basis for his claims.
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