Nobody Is Above The Law � Police Boss Tells Former Regional Minister

Commander of the Motor Traffic and Transport Unit (MTTU) of the Ghana Police Service, ACP Angwubutoge Awuni, has confirmed earlier reports that he directed his men to force the immediate past Greater Accra Regional Minister, Nii Armah Ashietey out of a polling centre because his conduct was unlawful and a recipe for disaster. The MTTU boss was emphatic that nobody was above the law in the country and his (Awuni�s) action was in tandem with the country�s electoral statutes since no individual has the power to prevent an electorate from registering or to interfere with the process once a challenge form was available. It would be recalled that peacefmonline.com first broke the news on April 5th about the former Greater Accra Regional Minister, who was said to have been involved in a showdown with the police after he reportedly tried to physically prevent people from registering in the ongoing biometric exercise at a polling centre in the Klottey-Korley constituency because he suspected most of them were from the Odododiodoo constituency. The two constituencies are only separated by a street. The former Regional Minister, who happens to be the NDC Parliamentary candidate for the Korley Klotey constituency, confirmed the incident in an interview with peacefmonline.com on the day it occurred, saying he only tried to challenge some electorate from Odododiodoo who had crossed over to register at a polling centre sited within the premises of the Central MTTU. ��the MTTU Boss appeared on the scene and shouted me down and told me (Ashietey) to stop interfering with the registration�my explanations to him that allowing them to go through the process could have some form of impact in the December polls were ignored�I stood my grounds and vowed not to let what i felt to be an illegality continue...then he directed his personnel to drag me out,� Hon Ashietey recounted. But ACP Awuni, told Okay FM�s Ade Akye Abia Morning Show in an interview on Tuesday, that Hon Ashietey physically prevented people from registration claiming that they not residents in the constituency. �There is nobody above the law in this country, even our President; John Atta Mills is not above the law; that is why he will not do anything to get arrested. The EC laws says that no individual has the power to stop someone from registering�the registration process had started peacefully in the morning until the former minister came to the polling centre insisting he will not allow some people to register because they do not live in the constituency,� he explained. He said the former Minister and some members from his campaign team caused the registration process to stall for more than an hour and when he asked him to leave the scene since his conduct was unlawful, the MP refused. ACP Awuni said he was thus compelled to order his men to force the former minister out of the place. �When I witnessed the scenes of chaos at the registration center and I got to know it was as a result of his (Ashietey�s) conduct, I calmly asked him to stop and leave the polling centre but he flatly refused�.Things were getting out of hand so I ordered for his arrest so the EC can have the space to do their work, besides the opposition groups were also getting agitated because he was interfering with the process and preventing the electorate from registering�I had to do act to prevent possible violence,� he added. ACP Awuni, who admitted losing his temper because the former minister threatened to have him dismissed from the service, said a provisional charge of disrupting the electoral process has been proffered against him (Ashietey). �I spoke to him calmly in a deferential tone but he tried to exert some form of authority so I ordered that they drive him out�I am not aware he was pushed down but I won�t deny that I ordered my men to drag him away�It is lawful that if you resist arrest, the police can use force and I did not craft the law. If he resisted arrest and they forced him, that is his problem not mine,� he said.