You goofed; your letter was ill-advised

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has criticised the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Dr Akuffo Dampare over his strong-worded letter to the British High Commissioner, Harriet Thompson.

The NDC believes Dr Dampare should have used appropriate diplomatic channels to air his concerns.

“The NDC takes the considered view that Inspector-General of Police, Dr George Akuffo Dampare, should have raised his concerns about the British High Commissioner’s tweet on Oliver Barker-Vormawor’s latest arrest with Ghana’s Foreign Minister through the Minister for the Interior for it to be addressed via the usual diplomatic channels,” the party bemoaned.

The IGP’s letter was in connection with Madam Thompson’s post on the arrest of #FixTheCountry convenor, Oliver Barker-Vormawor on May 17, 2022.

Taking to her Twitter page, she wrote: Oliver Barker Vormawor, convener of #FixTheCountry movement, arrested again, I understand for a motoring offence on his way to court. I’ll be interested to see where this goes…

In the letter on May 31, 2022, Dr Dampare described Madam Thompson’s comments as “uninformed, biased, misguided and unwarranted”.

He argued the post is a violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations 1961, which enjoins diplomatic missions not to interfere with the internal affairs of their host country.

But a statement signed by the General Secretary, Asiedu Nketia described the IGP’s letter as regrettable and misguided.

The statement added Dampare’s response has the tendency to jeopardise the enviable cordial bilateral relations between Ghana and Britain.

“Ghana and the UK have shared strong friendly bilateral relations and official communications must avoid tones and language which are considerably discourteous, offensive and needlessly provocative,” parts of the statement added.

Below is the full statement of NDC: