The British High Commissioner to Ghana, Harriet Thompson, has revealed that her tweet on the arrest of Fix the country convener, Oliver Barker-Vormawor, was not received as intended.
Harriet Thompson raised concerns on social media over the arrest of the #FixTheCountry Movement lead convener, Oliver Barker-Vormawor, for traffic offense.
“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…” the diplomat said in a tweet.
Reacting to the week-old tweet in a 4-page statement, Dr George Akuffo Dampare, mentioned that Harriet Thompson’s tweet violates the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, 1961 which enjoins diplomatic missions not to interfere in the international affairs of their host country.
“Is there any particular reasons why of all the people arrested daily for various offences in Ghana, you are especially interested in this person’s case?. Is it the case that you don’t have confidence in our justice delivery, criminal justice system and our court processes as a whole?
“Do you know the number of Members of Parliament, chief executives and other high-profile Ghanaians who have been arrested and prosecuted for road traffic offences and have submitted themselves to due process? If you care to know, we will be delighted to share the list with you.”
Read Also: Dampare fires British High Commissioner over Vormawor tweet
“For the moment, we would recommend a Ghanaian saying that might guide you in your diplomatic engagements. The saying goes: ‘di wo fie asem’ – it means learn to keep within the limits of what concerns you,” excerpts of Dampare’s statement read.
In an interview with Accra based GHOne TV, The British High Commissioner to Ghana, Harriet Thompson explained that she didn’t expect a response from the IGP.
“That was not the intention, and my experience, Ghana is peace loving nation where people have the right to express themselves, they do have the right to come out to protest against things that matter to them. A tweet like that will not get Ghanaians on the street in my view. It looks like my tweet wasn’t received as it was intended. I didn’t expect a response from the IGP at all.”
“If I was told there are chances like that I will not be tweeting like that that’s clearly not my intention but I haven’t seen anything like that for the time I’ve been here that will suggest his response,” Harriet Thompson said.
Ghana | Atinkaonline.com | Vivian Adu
