‘My tweet wasn’t going to get Ghanaians on the streets’ – British High Commissioner fires back at Dampare
The British High Commissioner has reacted to the Inspector-General of Police (IGP)’s response to her tweet about the arrest of #FixTheCountry convener, Oliver Barker-Vormawor.
Harriet Thompson says her tweet was harmless and does not have the capacity to temper with the peace being enjoyed by citizens in the country.
Speaking in an interview on Accra-based GHOne on Tuesday, May 31, she said she did not expect a response from the IGP at all.
“Ghana is a peace-loving nation where people do have the right to express themselves, where they do have the right to come and protest things that matter to them.
“A tweet like that is not going to be the thing that will get people onto the streets, in my view. If I had thought that there was the remotest chance of that, I wouldn’t be tweeting things like that. That is clearly not my intention,” she said.
Her response comes after the Ghana Police Service asked the British High Commissioner to Ghana, Harriet Thompson, to mind her own business so far as matters pertaining to the arrest of Oliver Barker-Vormawor are concerned.
Harriet Thompson, in a Tweet on Tuesday, May 17, said she looks forward to seeing how the arrest of the convener of the FixTheCountry Movement will turn out.
“Oliver Barker Vormawor, the convener of #FixTheCountry Movement, arrested again, I understand, for a motoring offense on his way to court. I’ll be interested to see where this goes…,” the tweet said.
However, the Police in a letter signed by the IGP, Dr George Akuffo Dampare, to the High Commissioner said her tweet was from either a “biased or uninformed position.”
‘My tweet wasn’t going to get Ghanaians on the streets’ – British High Commissioner fires back at Dampare
IGP Dampare
“Ordinarily, the Ghana Police Service would not have responded to comments such as yours, obviously made from either a biased or uninformed position.”
“However, we have learnt from a previous painful experience that it has not been helpful to ignore such misguided, unwarranted, and biased comments intended to tarnish the reputation of the Ghana Police Service and that of our country.”
The letter also stated that the British High Commissioner’s tweet violates the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.
“What is more, we consider your tweet as a violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, 1961 which enjoins diplomatic missions not to interfere in the internal affairs of their host country”
Meanwhile, some Ghanaians have expressed their displeasure about the response from the Police Administration.
The main opposition political party in the country has also added its voice to same; insisting the response was regrettable and unwarranted.
Also, the gentleman at the centre of the brawl, Oliver Barker-Vormawor has also described the country as a concert party as a result of the response.
