Prosecutors in the ongoing case of National Democratic Congress (NDC) Youth Organizer for the Suame Constituency, Razak Kuampa Avoliya, has been adjourned.
The prosecutors have asked for three weeks extension to enable them to file witness statements to the Asokwa Circuit Court in the case involving Mr. Avoliya who is standing trial for alleged political incitement after remarks he made in a video went viral.
The prosecution had told the court in the previous proceeding it would serve all disclosures to the defense counsel but failed to do so when the case was called today, March 9,2023.
Counsel for Razak Kuampa Avoliya, Evans Amankwah, revealed that the prosecution asked for more time to facilitate the transcription of the content of the viral video from Twi to English.
“As we indicated at the last adjourned date, the court ordered that the prosecution should serve us with their witness statement and disclosures, but they couldn’t and the excuse was that they were trying to transcribe the content of the video from Twi to English, and they have not done that. So, the court adjourned the case to April 4, 2023, by which time they would have served the court with their witness statements and disclosures.”
Evans Amankwah
Police accused of dragging case
On his part, the National Organizer of the NDC, Joseph Yammin, accused the police of intentionally delaying and dragging the case. He indicated that the police came to court and requested that Mr Avoliya be remanded due to some ongoing investigations.
“If for a month, the prosecution is unable to transcribe a video that is less than ten minutes, then it baffles me to believe that the police are taking the case seriously. It is an indication that the police just don’t want this case to go away anytime soon. I don’t know which investigations they are talking about when he said he is the one in the video and that is his voice. This could only be a delay tactic.”
Joseph Yammin
It will be recalled that the NDC Youth Organiser in Suame was reported to have made statements that bordered on possible reprisals to state-sponsored violence during elections. As a result, the Police issued a statement on the Suame Youth Organiser’s threat “to attack persons of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the run-up to the 2024 General Elections”.
Condemning the incident, the Police urged political actors to be circumspect in their language and utterances “to safeguard the peace and security” of the country. Subsequently, the Police declared him wanted.
Following this, the leadership of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the Ashanti Region, handed over the Suame Constituency Youth Organizer to the Police on Wednesday, February 8. They assured the Police of their support to ensure lives and property are protected in the region before, during and after the elections.
The New Patriotic Party (NPP) on the other hand, noted that the statement made by the Suame NDC Youth Organizer to incite violence is not mere talk.
According to the party, the Youth Organizer was clear about his threat to stage violence in next year’s general elections – saying “it is dangerous to put it mildly”.
The NPP Director of Communications, Richard Ahiagbah, asserted that the Youth Organizer did not misspeak, emphasizing that the threat to incite violence is something that cannot be taken less seriously. He explained that his intentions to stage the violence are fueled by some comments made by former President John Mahama when the NDC lost in the 2022 election.
