Maurice Ampaw is a private legal practitioner
• Rev. Owusu Bempah was arrested in church
• The police took him to court on Monday and he has since been remanded
• Maurice Ampaw says this is a bad precedence for the police
Private legal practitioner, Maurice Ampaw, has said that the way in which the embattled Founder of the Glorious Word Ministries International, Rev. Isaac Owusu Bempah, was arrested sets a bad precedence.
He said that this also makes the work of the Ghana Police Service, and in essence, the Inspector General of Police, a little problematic especially if future instances of same fashion are not approached in the same manner.
The lawyer was reacting to the arrest and remand of Rev. Owusu Bempah, in a phone interview with GhanaWeb.
The controversial pastor had been arrested by the police at his church and slapped with charges of creation and circulation of multiples containing threats and brandishing of a weapon and assault of police person.
In court on Monday, September 13, 2021, the Accra Circuit Court denied the pastor bail, remanding him for a week – a time that the judge said should be enough for the police to gather further details for their investigation.
Lawyer Maurice Ampaw is however disturbed by this trend and has vowed that he will be watching subsequent cases similar to this to see how the police handle them.
“I think that the IGP should be very, very worried because when you start doing these things and you cannot apply to all, then you have yourself to blame. Can you imagine if President Mahama were to misconduct himself, or, any of the political leaders decide to conduct themselves in that manner, will the IGP have the same courage?
“We’re just watching because we see big men misconducting themselves, committing crimes here and there but the system does not react. So now, the IGP has set a standard where some of us are going to monitor any criminal misconduct of any politician in the country, we’ll call for their arrest, not invitation,” he said.
According to a widely circulated circular by the Ghana Police Service, Rev Owusu Bempah was arrested together with three other suspects namely, Michael Boateng, Frederick Ohene and Nathaniel Agyekum, on Sunday, September 13, 2021, at his church premises.
The police indicated that two other suspects are currently on the run and they [police] are pursuing them.
Rev. Owusu Bempah and the four others are to reappear on at the Accra Circuit court presided over by Afia Owusuaa Appiah on Monday, September 20, 2021.