Legal practitioner Kwame Jantuah has strongly criticized the General Secretary of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Justin Kodua Frimpong, for what he described as an “immature” response to the arrest of former NPP parliamentary candidate for Adenta, Alfred Kumi.
Speaking on Morning Starr with Naa Dedei Tettey, Jantuah took issue with Kodua’s call for party supporters to gather at Kumi’s residence following the arrest, urging a more responsible approach.
“That advise is immature because what the General Secretary should have said and done is ‘NPP loyalist, meet the gentleman at where they are taken him to and defend him,’” Jantuah said.
“It should not be his house. You don’t have the power to stop that kind of thing. Because they did it the last time? It should not be something that is done all the time somebody is arrested. It is very wrong.”
He emphasized that party supporters should focus on ensuring legal representation for Kumi rather than engaging in potentially chaotic gatherings.
“If not for nothing at all, you meet him at where he’s been taken to and you get lawyers to defend him,” he advised.
Jantuah also questioned the nature of the arrest, particularly the involvement of national security rather than the police.
“Is this not a national security issue? If the national security has gone to arrest him, they have reasons to arrest him. Why isn’t the police who went to arrest him but national security?” he asked.
While expressing some reservations about the method used in the arrest, Jantuah was unequivocal in his disapproval of how the party leadership reacted.
“What I wasn’t in favor of is the mode that they went there, but it’s an allegation. But I don’t understand why the General Secretary should say NPP people should go and mass up at the place. We have laws in this country and a political party cannot decide to be unruly—and he’s been unruly,” he concluded.
