Convenor of the #Fixthecountry movement, Oliver Barker-Vormawor has vowed to continue fighting for a better Ghana despite his arrest and subsequent detention for allegedly threatening a coup on social media.
In a Youtube address, he charged members of the #Fixthecountry movement not to relent on their effort for a better Ghana.
He said: "I know for some people my arrest and subsequent unlawful detention has either broken your spirit or made you withdraw your enthusiasm because you have seen the vengeful and lawless the leadership our country is up close and personal some of you have become more afraid, you've started to wonder if we can win against people who are not shy... I have come out to find some of you more afraid than you started I urge you not to lose that fear but to embrace it."
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He also revealed that he was manhandled by security officials while under detention.
“On Friday, 11 February 2022, I was unlawfully detained by security officials of this regime, tortured, and subsequently held without just cause for 35 days,” he said in his first public statement since his release.
Mr. Barker-Vormawor said he spent 35 days in a cell that was “designed for four people but ultimately filled with nearly 30 detainees.”
He recalled that these cells were “without ventilation and had bed bugs, cockroaches and rats crawling” inside.
Police had said the Cambridge Ph.D. student’s arrest was as a result of a post he had made on Facebook threatening to stage a coup if the controversial Electronic Transaction Levy (E-levy) is passed.
He was subsequently granted a GH¢2 million bail by the Tema High Court after being charged with treason felony.
Mr. Barker-Vormawor clarified that his social movement has no intentions of inciting violence in the country, as some have suggested.
“Fix the country abides by the law and it will forever abide by the tenets of democracy,” he insisted.
He urged Ghanaians to refrain from giving up their quest to hold those in power accountable.
“Perseverance in the course of justice seduces even the most stubborn members of our community, so do not lose faith.”