A writ has been submitted to the Sunyani High Court in the Bono Region by a private legal practitioner named Nana Obiri Boahen. The writ seeks the imprisonment of the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Dr. George Akuffo Dampare, and eight other police personnel.
The individuals named in the filing are Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP) Joseph Gyamerah Oklu, Bono Regional Police Commander, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Gyasi, and Chief Inspector Mohammed Mustapha. Additionally, the list includes DSP Peter Owusu, Chief Superintendent Solomon Korli, as well as police officers Alhaji Shaibu, Bernard Asare, and Emmanuel Kpodo.
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On a recent Tuesday, Justice Harry Acheampong Poku, presiding over the court, granted a “motion on notice for contempt” submitted by the applicant through a method of substituted service. Copies of the motion were posted at the High Court, Ghana Police Service headquarters, and the Bono Regional Police Command.
The plaintiff’s plea to the court is for the respondents to be imprisoned due to their “defiant, serious lack of respect for the rule of law, and disobedience of the decision or orders outlined in the judgment of a circuit court” issued on July 28, 2022, by Justice Sylvester Nii Okine Ablorh.
An accompanying affidavit, submitted by a legal firm based in Sunyani, provides additional context. It explains that the plaintiff initiated legal action in the Circuit Court against DSP Gyasi, who had been allegedly engaging in the “harassment, intimidation, and bullying” of the plaintiff’s agents operating on land acquired by the plaintiff, all while wearing his police uniform.
“That unable to countenance the insubordination of the DSP Gyasi and his cohorts, I mounted the action against the said DSP Gyasi before the Circuit Court in which the matter travelled through a full trial and judgement was delivered,” it stated.
The affidavit said the plaintiff later filed an “entry of judgment” and to “put DSP Gyasi and all those hiding behind to unleash violence, intimidation on my agents, privies, assigns, my counsel wrote a letter and notified the respondents.”
“Almost all the respondents were duly served with the letter by way of EMS,” it added, saying that notwithstanding, “the respondents have disregarded the judgment and have been consistently harassing, intimidating, bullying, arresting and detaining my agents who have gone unto my land which the honourable court has ruled in my favour.”
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The affidavit explained, “On February 27, 2023, one Kofi Peprah, Kwadwo Takyi and Kwame Nkrumah were sent to demarcate some lines on my land and in the process some of the respondents caused their arrests and detained them at the Municipal Police cells, Sunyani overnight.”
It said “Some of the respondents always insist that the IGP has instructed them to defy all the court orders and thereby treated the court orders with disdain,” it said, adding “On the instructions of the IGP, some of the respondents arrested and detained one Douglas Addo, who was asked to go and mould blocks on February 15, 2023.”Obiri Boahen sues IGP Dampare, 8 other police officers
