‘I wasn’t after a response from the IGP at all’ – British Commissioner
Barker-Vormawor treason case: 'Di wo fie asem' - IGP issues stern warning to British High Commissioner
British High Commissioner to Ghana, Harriet Thompson, has clarified that her tweet regarding the arrest of Convener of the #FixTheCountry Movement, Oliver Barker-Vormawor, was not to interfere in the operations of the Ghana Police Service.
Commissioner Thompson suggested that the police had misconstrued her tweet to mean that she was criticising them.
Speaking in an interview on GHOne TV, the diplomat added that it was never her intention to interfere in the work of the police.
“To me, it feels like a stretch. It feels like me saying I am interested in something is a long way from people saying we must take to the streets… Commenting on something that is of great interest to a lot of people in a country is not interfering in the affairs of that country.
“If I had thought there was the remotest chance of that, I wouldn’t be tweeting things like that. That is clearly not my intention,” she said.
Also, Commissioner Thompson, who was speaking for the first time after the Ghana Police Service published a four-page letter addressed to her over the tweet she made last month, said that it was clear that the tweet she posted had not been received the way it was intended.
“It is clear from the reaction that it has not been received in the way that it was intended. I wasn’t after a response from the IGP at all; when I comment on social media, I comment about all sorts of things which I am interested in,” she said.
The British High Commissioner, Harriet Thompson, in a tweet shared on May 17, bemoaned the arrest of Barker-Vormawor, who was arrested for a road traffic offence, saying that she was interested in the outcome of the convener’s arrest.
Responding to the High Commissioner’s statement, Inspector General of Police (IGP) George Akufo Dampare, in a letter to the diplomat, said her tweet was made from a prejudiced or unapprised position.
“Ordinarily, the Ghana Police Service would not have responded to comments such as yours, obviously made from either a biased or uninformed position. However, we have learnt from previous, painful experiences that it has not been helpful to ignore such misguided, unwarranted, and biased comments intended to tarnish the reputation of the Ghana Police Service and that of our country,” portions of the letter read.
Read the IGP's letter to the High Commissioner below:
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British High Commissioner to Ghana, Harriet Thompson