Senior Lecturer at the University of Ghana’s Department of Political Science, Dr Joshua Ebuntie Zaato, has accused the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) of mishandling the arrest of Dennis Miracles Aboagye, arguing that the state agency failed to justify its actions despite the former government official’s cooperation with investigators.
Speaking on the matter on Citi FM’s The Big Issue on Saturday July 18, Dr Zaato claimed that state investigative agencies had increasingly used bail conditions as a tool to punish political opponents or individuals under investigation.
“There is a question we have to ask about state coercive agencies, about state investigative agencies. In recent times and especially since this government came into power, have these agencies weaponised bail conditions to punish political opponents or to punish people under investigations? The answer is yes,” he said.
Focusing on Mr Aboagye’s case, Dr Zaato said EOCO’s own public statement showed that the former Executive Secretary of the Inter-Ministerial Coordinating Committee on Decentralisation (IMCCoD) had been cooperating with investigators from the beginning.
According to him, EOCO had acknowledged that Mr Aboagye knew he was under investigation and had cooperated throughout the process, yet had not produced any evidence to suggest he posed a flight risk or had failed to honour invitations.
“EOCO demonstrated their own incompetence and how lazy they are in this particular case, and it is contained in their own statement they released,” he stated.
He questioned why EOCO arrested Mr Aboagye at the Accra International Airport after he voluntarily returned to Ghana, despite knowing he was under investigation.
“You have a citizen doing what every patriot must do to cooperate with state agencies… He willingly came back knowing that he is being investigated. So what was the reason for picking him up in that Rambo style and keeping him there for three, four days?” he asked.
Mr Aboagye, an aide to the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) 2024 presidential candidate, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, was arrested by EOCO upon his arrival at the Accra International Airport after returning from a trip abroad.
EOCO said the arrest formed part of investigations into alleged financial and procurement-related irregularities involving about GH¢55 million during Mr Aboagye’s tenure as Executive Secretary of IMCCoD.
He was arrested alongside the former accountant of the Secretariat, Gerald Appiah.
Mr Aboagye has since been granted bail in the sum of GH¢50 million with three sureties, two to be justified, after meeting the conditions.
Investigations into the alleged financial and procurement-related irregularities remain ongoing.
