<<Print>>

Dr Emmanuel Akwetey, Executive Director of the Institute of Democratic Governance (IDEG) on Monday explained issues surrounding his case at an Accra Circuit Court, in which he has been granted self-recognizance bail. Dr Akwetey gave the explanation in reaction to media reports on the issue which, he contended, did not capture his side of the proceedings. In a statement issued to the press and copied to the GNA, Dr Akwetey explained that the case which was presented in court on December 31, 2013, involving him and his estranged wife Dr Sylvia Anie, was actually an old case that had already been dealt with by a court of competent jurisdiction in September 2011. �I have been discharged on all the counts and the case had ended and been struck-off. This sudden arousal of interest in that old case, on the same facts and the same charges before a different judge in a different court on no other dates than December 24 and December 31 is part of plans to embarrass me and destroy my reputation,� he stated. He said the fresh trial was part of a plot of harassment and intimidation initiated to prosecute him on the same old charges that had been struck off in 2011. According to Dr Akwetey on December 30, an express order was given by DOVVSU that he should be prosecuted immediately and was subsequently invited to appear in Court on December 31. �Fortunately, the Judge in her wisdom, on hearing the facts of the case both from the DOVVSU prosecutor and from my lawyer and being apprised that there are divorce proceedings on the same matter in the High Court since September 2011, decided to grant me a self-recognisance bail. �It is my hope that the divorce proceedings will be handled expeditiously by the appropriate Court and the matters settled as soon as possible�, he added. Dr Akwetey indicated that as a father, he was highly protective of his children and therefore greatly distressed by the allegations being made against him in public. �My three children have always been comfortable with me and are happy and secure at home in our residence and their mother, Dr Sylvia Anie, also comfortably lives there�. He expressed concern about the release of DOVVSU�s charge sheet to the media which contained the names of his children, saying that the least they could have done was to have professionally and ethically protected the children. �My only plea now is that DOVVSU and the media will henceforth do all they can to respect the rights of my children to privacy, decency and dignity. �My children have been traumatised by the actions. I am distressed by it but as a responsible father I have and will continue to provide the emotional, physical, psychological and spiritual support that they need in these trying times for our family,� he stated. He said it was his firm conviction that the actions of DOVSSU constituted a flagrant abuse of due process and State power.