Palaver — DR Josiah Aryeh, General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), narrowly escaped arrest and detention on the night of December 9, after he had called for a recount of ballot papers, according to ?Palaver? Intelligence sources.
Dr Aryeh had earlier submitted a petition to the Electoral Commissioner around 6.00 p.m. in which the NDC complained about the huge number of rejected ballot papers, in some particular constituencies, which gave cause for one to suspect some foul deals.
After submitting the petition, both GTV and TV3 crews, requested a interview with the General Secretary to enable him throw more light on the NDC?s petition.
The interview took place, live, on the premises of the Electoral Commission.
However, while the interview was taking place, a combined team of the military and police, was despatched to both the GTV and TV3 stations to arrest the General Secretary, who the authorities thought, had gone to either of the two stations, not only to pick Dr Aryeh, but also immediately take the programme off-air, since it was not ?in the national security?.
Of course, the team drew blank from both places, as they found no Dr Aryeh, at both stations.
Meanwhile, it will be recalled that only a few hours after the petition, Mr Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey, the campaign manager of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), was on air to declare his party?s victory, ahead of the Electoral Commissioner?s own official declaration of the results.
Of course, to the authorities, that act constituted no threat to national security, to warrant any wild goose chase, as happened in Dr Aryeh case.
?So, this is press freedom for you?, our sources concluded.
Source: GhanaWeb
