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Oliver Barker-Vormawor, one of the lead convenors of the #FixtheCountry# movement, has declared his intention to file a formal complaint against the Minister for National Security, Albert Kan-Dapaah.
This decision is in response to corruption allegations made against him by the minister. Barker-Vormawor shared this plan in a tweet on September 25, 2023, and indicated that the complaint would be lodged with the Office of the Special Prosecutor.
Advocates of the #FixTheCountry movement have alleged that they were offered a significant sum of one million dollars to halt the #OccupyJulorbiHouse protest. This revelation, shared through the official FixTheCountry Twitter account, has shed light on attempts to disrupt the #OccupyJulorBiHouse demonstration.
Despite facing arrests by the police and a secured injunction, the protest, organized by Democracy Hub, initially proceeded, with the organizers citing a lack of formal notification of the court order.
In response to this situation, the FixTheCountry group conveyed their stance via a tweet from their official Twitter account. They stated, “Since they want it this way, we will speak out. The government promised us $1 million if we could only stop the demonstration. We declined! We want a better Ghana.”
Following their release from police custody on September 22, 2023, along with other participants in the #OccupyJulorbiHouse protest, Oliver Barker-Vormawor informed journalists that they possess covert recordings of their meetings with Mr. Kan Dapaah, unbeknownst to the government.
He said: “While I was in the UK, the National Security Minister called and invited me for a sit-down. The government offered to pay for my flight, in order to meet here in Ghana”.
He stated, “This was something that was never disclosed to the public”, he said, “but we met at a safe house for us to stop our activism,” Mr Barker-Vormawor narrated.
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“This was way before we started the first #FixTheCountry demonstration,” he noted.
“We were offered not only money but appointments; and if we agreed to stop this, we were going to be free, but the most important thing was not to bring citizens onto the streets,” he claimed.
He said: “When we rejected that, Kan Dapaah, the National Security Minister, said to my face that if we decide to continue on this course of action, we will be arrested.”
“We will be dealt with and that it will be over his dead body any demonstrations will happen. At the time we were even in Supreme Court at the time,” he said.
“So, I was not surprised that I was ultimately arrested by the government and continue being charged for treason,” he said, adding: “For over two years now, the government has tried to prevent us from mobilising people.”
In a statement, the ministry acknowledged that in 2021, the Ministers of National Security and Finance, along with other relevant stakeholders, engaged with the conveners of the Fix the Country Movement to listen to their concerns. However, the statement emphasized that no offer of money or appointment was made to persuade the group to end its “activism.”
“The allegations made by Oliver Barker-Vormawor are, thus, false, unfounded, and a calculated attempt to hoodwink Ghanaians”, the statement noted.
“This Ministry, therefore, challenges him to produce the alleged recording of the said inducement. Meanwhile, the general public is urged to ignore the allegations and treat them with the utmost contempt they deserve”, the statement added.
