Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa has said he is not afraid to be imprisoned.
In a post on Thursday, the legislator called the bluff of Rev Kusi Boateng, Secretary to the Board of the National Cathedral, for seeking to have him imprisoned.
"A country where parliamentarians carrying out their constitutional oversight mandate become victims of state sponsored harassment, strange court injunctions and judicial threats of imprisonment even as double identity charlatans are protected and pampered is definitely a nation in the dark abyss, he wrote on Facebook.
Let the cowardly forces of tyranny be told that I am not one to be frightened with imprisonment.
I am ever ready to be a political prisoner of conscience than to be coerced and compromised into a behind the scenes deal with the corrosive enemies of the Republic."
He cited historical figures such as Nkrumah, Rawlings, Mandela, Kenyatta, Sisulu, Tutu, Gandhi, King, and Lula da Silva, who have all taught that Truth and Justice cannot be imprisoned.
READ ALSO: Rev. Kusi Boateng wants Ablakwa jailed for contempt
Ablakwa further thanked the ranking and file of the National Democratic Congress for the enormous support given to him to do his parliamentary work.
“I wish to express heartfelt appreciation and profound gratitude for the overwhelming solidarity and words of encouragement I have received since the series of cathedral exposés in the pursuit of my constitutional mandate of oversight, and in the face of the current fascist machinations to use the judiciary and other state institutions to silence and intimidate me.
The Secretary to the Board of Trustees of the National Cathedral of Ghana, Reverend Victor Kusi Boateng, filed a motion, praying the court to commit Mr Ablakwa to prison for his conduct.
The MP had kicked a writ meant to be served on him by a court bailiff on Friday, February 3.
He had given the pretext that he was on his way to Parliament when the bailiff approached him at the forecourt of Accra-based Metro TV to be served Rev Kusi Boateng’s writ.
The writ was to restrain the lawmaker from further making pronouncements on the clergyman’s case of double identity because the matter was before the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ).
The latest motion is to draw the attention of the court over a possible contempt case against the lawmaker.
Read his full post below:
I wish to express heartfelt appreciation and profound gratitude for the overwhelming solidarity and words of encouragement I have received since the series of cathedral exposés in the pursuit of my constitutional mandate of oversight, and in the face of the current fascist machinations to use the judiciary and other state institutions to silence and intimidate me.
I am eternally indebted to the good people of Ghana, my dearest family, former President H.E. John Mahama, the NDC executive led by Chairman Johnson Asiedu Nketiah, the NDC Council of Elders chaired by Alhaji Mahama Iddrisu, Prof. Naana Jane Opoku Agyemang, my beloved North Tongu constituents, the rank and file of NDC comrades across the country, Civil Society Organisations, activists, genuine pastors, the credible media, my dedicated staff, gallant and dependable colleagues of the NDC Caucus in Parliament led by Dr. Cassiel Ato Baah Forson.
A country where parliamentarians carrying out their constitutional oversight mandate become victims of state sponsored harassment, strange court injunctions and judicial threats of imprisonment even as double identity charlatans are protected and pampered is definitely a nation in the dark abyss.
Let the cowardly forces of tyranny be told that I am not one to be frightened with imprisonment.
I am ever ready to be a political prisoner of conscience than to be coerced and compromised into a behind the scenes deal with the corrosive enemies of the Republic.
Nkrumah, Rawlings, Mandela, Kenyatta, Sisulu, Motlanthe, Desmond Tutu, Mohandas Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jnr., Thomas Mapfumo, Andrei Sakharov, Antonia Gramsci and Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva have all taught us to overcome the fear of prison and be constantly of the indomitable belief that Truth and Justice cannot be imprisoned.
Silence and Surrender cannot be options!